Wonderful Story

[andypc]

Hope this hasn't been posted before but this story was in my local Newspaper about the oldest Tawny Owl,What a Mother she has been,enjoy.

Record-breaking older mum has three healthy chicks at 21
Last updated 21:54, Wednesday, 28 May 2008

Experts are in a flap over the reappearance of a record-breaking tawny owl in Kershope Forest near Penton.

She was ringed as a chick in 1987, which made her an astonishing 20-years-old, four times the average life expectancy of a tawny in the wild.

Now she’s back and last month celebrated her 21st birthday. Unbelievably, she has laid three eggs which have hatched into healthy young chicks, using a purpose-built nest box.

If she can steer clear of trouble until October, she will become the oldest tawny owl recorded in Britain, a record currently held by a male found dead in North Yorkshire in 1988 aged 21 years, five months and 13 days.

That would be a feather in the cap for a Forestry Commission-backed tawny owl project which has been running in Kershope and the other woods of Kielder Forest since 1980. It is the largest study of its kind in the UK, providing more than 200 nest boxes to make up for a lack of suitable natural nesting sites.

Brian Little, a naturalist working on the project, said: “It’s been an anxious wait over the winter.

“It was real heart-in-the-mouth stuff when we went back to the nest she used last year. We knocked on the box and incredibly an owl popped out.

“We checked the ring tag, after which I had to choke back a tear. What a fantastic moment. She looks terrific and her three new chicks looked very healthy.

“Last year she had two youngsters, so she has gone one better this time. She must be surrounded by an incredibly large extended family because tawnies tend to stay in the same area.”

The old owl was ringed as a chick on April 26, 1987 in a box little more than a mile away from where she has been nesting over the last couple of years. Female tawnies remain fertile until very late in life and show few visible signs of ageing.

[deer boy]

WOW what a wonderful story lets hope she sets a new record

[kielder]

Incredible! thanks for putting this up, very interesting.

[seamusagleann]

amazing story!!!! lets hope she goes on to beat the record. interesting way to attract owls is to rub polystyrene on glass ,it produces a noise that resembles the distress call of mice!!

[galanthus]

Thanx for that, lovely story Thanx to seamusagleann also for that amazing tip Off to find polystyrene !!

[seamusagleann]

let us know how you get on ,galanthus . it was an ex wildlife ranger that told me ,they used that to attract foxes, but it also worked for owls, so you might just see the local vulpine as well.

[shirl]

Wonderful story, isn't nature just fantastic!

[ellen h]

Lovely story!
Ellen