LONG EARED OWL

There's been some absolutely superb images of Long Eared Owl on social media lately and it's a bird that both myself and my birding buddy Steve Bool have never seen. Luckily we both know a great bloke called Fletch Lewis who is a birder and a massive Owl enthusiast who travels to many different sites to watch and photograph Owls in the UK.

He gave us a location near Burnley in Lancashire where a few pairs of Long Eared Owl's breed. This was back in late August so the young Owls have now left the nest but will still be hanging around the adults territory.

We set off ridiculously early to get up there by first light hoping to see these beautiful birds. We arrived at the site weary eyed but full of hope of seeing the Owls, the site was a mix of scattered pine trees, mixed woodland and a huge expanse of moorland ideal habitat for them. We walked around a bit looking at everything that moved, before deciding to split up. Steve went further into the trees and I went up on the edge of the moorland where there was a small stone wall that separated the trees from the moorland. Within five minutes of me looking into the scattered pine trees from the wall I saw a large mottled brown coloured bird drop to the floor, within five seconds it flew back up in to one of the trees. I quickly got my binoculars on it and there it was my first Long Eared Owl.

my first long eared owl

long eared owl look at them orange eyes

I quickly rang Steve and told him the great news and within a couple of minutes he had sprinted up from where he had been looking he was exhausted and sweating but also delighted to see his first Long Eared Owl.

We both set up our scopes to do some digiscoping of the Owl which I have to say was incredibly tame and seemed to be oblivious to us and the few other people who had turned up by now. The bird was so close we had to back off a bit with our scopes to get the bird in the frame.

Below is a short clip I scoped of the Long Eared Owl. 

It stayed there for a while before flying up to an area where there were some dead branches and yet again it just perched there not taking any notice of which by now were quite a few birders who were watching and photographing it.

the long eared owl posing at the top of a dead branch

Below is another clip of this beautiful bird.

Here's some pics of the bird as it flew to yet another bare branch out in the open, what an absolute beauty and so tolerant.

And here's another short video.

It finally flew to yet another bare branch once again right out in the open before flying onto a tree and then decided to fly into the wood disappearing out of sight.

the last picture I took of this incredible bird

After it went deeper into the wood we both decided to call it a day but as you can imagine both Steve and myself were absolutely buzzing, what a morning it had been. To get so close to this wonderful owl was an absolute privilege. A massive thank you to Fletch who told us about this site and to Steve for driving all the way to Lancashire and back in one day what a man, but I think he would agree with me to finally get to see the beautiful Long Eared Owl a lifer for us both was well worth it. What a bird.