Snow in June? Snowy Owl makes landfall on Anglesey!!

Snowy Owl is a bird I’ve wanted to see in Britain since I was very young, having made a small “Owls in the UK” checklist complete with little photographs to tick off each species as I saw it – Snowy Owl sitting right at the bottom with “VAGRANT” written next to it.

Fast forward several years with all owls now ticked off (even European Scops making it on to the list!) just Snowy Owl remained, with a big blank square sitting next to its name.

Having never made it to either the Cairngorms, Scilly Isles or East Anglia over recent times to twitch the long-staying birds that set up home there, it was therefore a bit of a surprise and a stroke of good luck and timing when reports of a Snowy Owl seen on Anglesey came trickling in on a Friday afternoon back in June. Showing well all afternoon on Point Lynas coastal path, as soon as the first photos of confirmation came through on Twitter I left work early to try and connect, beating the rush hour traffic and picking up Alex en-route.

Snowy Owl!

Making good time and arriving mid-afternoon, we were unfortunately met with the news it had just this second flown over the brow of the hill and lost to view – horrendous bad luck on our part! Thankfully we didn’t have long to wait for a reappearance, as after just a tense 5 minute wait the owl was refound further along the track, being harassed by one of the local Buzzards but standing it’s ground and sitting serenely amongst the gorse.

Setting up our scopes (my ankles getting slashed to pieces in the process by the local plant life – ankle socks were NOT a good idea) we were able to get great and prolonged views as this majestic arctic owl sat peacefully on a patch of rocky ground, turning its head regularly and blinking obliviously at its small crowd of admirers.

Normally a far arctic species much more at home in the Canadian, Greenland or Russian expanses, 2018 has seen a bit of a mini influx of Snowy Owls in to the UK, with individuals of this stately owl recorded in locations such as Shetland, Orkney, the Outer Hebrides, Gwent, Gwynedd, Lincolnshire/Norfolk, the Scilly Isles and Pembrokeshire to name a few.

The normal range of Snowy Owls

And the latest sightings in the UK this year as per Birdguides

With the St. David’s Head bird in Pembrokeshire last seen on the 7^th April, and subsequent sightings of a Snowy Owl further north in Ceredigion a day later and on Skomer Island on the 30^th May, it’s entirely plausible that this could be the same female moving north. However reports of a Snowy Owl on Anglesey have been doing the rounds since the spring, with a bird reported at South Stack as far back as the 24^th March and again at Rhosneigr on the 13^th April, so it is equally as likely that this is a different individual altogether from Pembrokeshire bird, having set up home in the remote Welsh mountains and remaining undetected for long periods of time. Indeed, after making itself available at Point Lynas, it wasn’t until 3 weeks later that it was spotted again further west at South Stack, with another month on top of that before it was reported once more.

The beautiful views from the coastal path

Regardless, this was a fantastic local bird to see in a beautiful, rugged Welsh coastal setting, and a bird that means I can finally tick off that blank square on my owl checklist after all these years.

MEGA!!!! Scops Owl in Ryhope, Durham!!

Scops Owl is a species I’ve always wanted to see in Britain, coming in at number 9 on my top ten most wanted species. Having always loved owls, this quirky, angry looking miniature bird of prey has always been a firm favourite of mine when visiting falconry exhibits, and the only birds I’ve seen in the wild are a pair that were flying around a park in northern Spain several years ago, in the pitch black and just managing to make them out through the inky darkness as they sat perched in the trees, “bong”ing away in that characteristic and bizarre manner.

Scops Owl in Britain!

It’s been over ten years since the well-known Oxfordshire bird back in 2006 (bar a few records on the northern Scottish Isles and Scilly in between), therefore when the message popped up on my phone of a Scops Owl found in Ryhope near Durham I nearly did a double take, even more so when it transpired that this was actually the real deal and not another ‘car alarm’ false start as has been reported in the last few years.

Photos of the bird sat roosting soon began to flood social media as expected (all with ‘that leaf’ obscuring the top of its face!) and it became extremely hard to sit back and watch as scores and scores of birders connected.

Luckily the Scops stayed put and we eventually found ourselves making our way up north in order to try and see this remarkable little owl for ourselves - thankfully still in the same Elder bush it was first found in when we arrived and showing well for the small crowd of birders that had gathered round to admire it. Scops Owl in Britain – result and relief!

Sat relatively out in the open half way up the bush we were treated to excellent scope views of what can most certainly be a difficult bird to see well – I definitely wasn’t expecting to connect with one on British soil any time soon that’s for sure, and especially not showing so well! 

Phone-scoped shot of the Scops

A roosting Scops Owl during the day on mainland Britain is the best it’s going to get as far as this often cryptic and well-hidden species is concerned, and luckily this individual stayed around long enough for the majority of those who wanted to see it to connect. Luckily the Scops had chosen to roost in a tree that couldn’t be approached too closely, thankfully alleviating the risk of someone getting too close for comfort and flushing it.

The Scops bush....

....and its admirers

With no sign in recent weeks the question remains as to whether it finally has moved on to continue with its migration south to Africa for the winter, or if it is merely keeping a low profile out of sight in an as yet undiscovered roost - either way this was an absolutely top notch bird and one I’m extremely glad I got the privilege to see so well on mainland Britain. With 84 accepted records in Britain to date this is by no means a “mega mega” but it was still an absolutely superb bird that was most definitely worth travelling for and a bird on my personal wish list for Britain.