being in the vicinity I dropped in to have a look at these beautiful owls; my opinion is that Long-eared Owl is in trouble at least around North Lincs -- having checked most of my regular sites in the past couple of weeks I have drawn a complete blank; most are in thorn thickets where in some cases uniformed people have put up boxes that have been taken over by Tawny Owls excluding the Leos in some others the habitat has been preserved while the hunting range outside the thicket has been destroyed by industrial development a classic case of poor quality survey work
In 2009 there were no reports of proven breeding in Lincolnshire and birds were recorded from only 9 sites with most of these being coastal migrants -- the bird is overlooked but even so this is a serious situation --
I was also amazed that these birds stay in this area with the volume of noise from people supposedly enjoying the birds matching the output a local football ground -- what on earth happened to birdwatching as opposed to walking around shouting and jabbering while following directions to the next bird?
4 comments:
I have been birding for about 4 years and they are the first time I have heard of any sighting of LEO's in East Yorkshire besides migration at spurn.
While at north cave wetlands I had to share a hide with an individual who spent 20 minutes loudly discussing cameras with his friends, before answering his very loud phone. He then proceeded to converse for a few minutes at normal talking volume. If he desperately needed to take the phone call then surely he has heard of silent/vibrate? And i'm sure he must have had the ability to take his call outside and away from the hide? Rant over.
As I left Marshland hide last week I could here people talking with raised voices, almost shouting to each other as they viewed and photographed the LEO's from the path directly outside the Xerox hide door next to the sign asking people to view from inside. Grrrr!
Nice blog & very nice Leo images - the bird looks very much at ease.
Still a good population in Co.Durham, ( @ 150 pr ) although productivity well down on previous years - very few 4's & 5's, now mostly 2's & 3's leaving the nest.
cheers.
I have jsut found this blog by googling long eared owls and Lincolnshire. A member of staff has just take a great photo of a long eared owl on our site and as its the first time I have ever seen one thought Id see what I can find out. Are they relatively common or quite a rare siting in N Lincolnshire?
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