An owl from the past

Back in mid April 2005, I located a Long-eared Owl nest on some land south of Newark. It was in the top of an old pear tree, and the give-away was a head poking out of the top, with two ear tufts... Back then I did a bit of ringing with Jim Lennon from South Notts Ringing Group, so we headed out one evening in mid June with a triple ladder to ring the chicks - four in all. 

One of these birds was found with a broken wing earlier this month, by the A1 at Long Bennington - just 6-7km away from the ringing location Unfortunately it was sufficiently badly injured that it had to be put down; and at 4677 days since ringing, it was just 23 days short of the BTOs longevity record (held by a bird from Aberdeenshire). What a shame.