Web Design and Author Richard Kirton

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PHIL ECKETT'S OWLS

Monday 22nd January 2007

Report by Richard Kirton

On Monday 22nd January 2007 at the Old School in Great Wakering, we had the pleasure of meeting Phil Eckett of 'Owlwise' and his 'Live Owls'. Around seventy members, friends and youngsters turned up to see Phil's presentation on owls which started with a slide show presentation where he explained everything from an owl's anatomy to its feeding and flying habits. Although the hall was packed, there was deadly silence when Phil was talking since everybody was paying attention to everything that he had to say. Of particular interest was his explanation of how acute their sight and hearing was and how their digestive systems worked bearing in mind their ability to eat small animals whole. Their stomachs are sectioned into two parts: The first part is the glandular stomach or proventriculus, which produces enzymes, acids, and mucus that begin the process of digestion. The second part is the muscular stomach, or gizzard. There are no digestive glands in the gizzard, and in birds of prey, it serves as a filter, holding back insoluble items such as bones, fur, teeth and feathers (more about this below). Several hours after eating, the indigestible parts (fur, bones, teeth & feathers that are still in the gizzard) are compressed into a pellet the same shape as the gizzard. This pellet travels up from the gizzard back to the proventriculus. It will remain there for up to 10 hours before being regurgitated. Because the stored pellet partially blocks the Owl's digestive system, new prey cannot be swallowed until the pellet is ejected. Regurgitation often signifies that an Owl is ready to eat again. When the Owl eats more than one prey item within several hours, the various remains are consolidated into one pellet. There are officially only five British owls namely, Barn Owl, Tawny Owl, Little Owl, Long-eared Owl and Short-eared Owl, although Snowy Owls have landed on two Argyll nature reserves. These rare feathered visitors were discovered on RSPB Scotland's Coll Nature Reserve on 27 January 2005 and Tiree's 'The Reef' RSPB Scotland Nature Reserve on 29 January 2005. They were last known to be breeding in Scotland on the Shetland Islands in 1975.

When Phil spoke of his owls joining him and watching the television from the armchair in his lounge it reminded me of the days when my wife and I owned a white Goffin Cockatoo when we first came to live in Great Wakering. His name was 'Max' and he was so friendly that he used to walk about the house and up the stairs and joined us in the lounge whilst watching television. After the birth of our daughter we had to find him a new home because he started to become very aggressive as though he was jealous. He was definitely not getting the same level of attention as before. He still lives with my sister in law to this day and would be about 30 years old now although visually he does not seem to have aged at all.

Phil confesses to being an 'owlcoholic' since he has cared for and reared birds for over 20 years. It all started when he was 10 years of age and ever since, Phil has rescued and hand reared the owlets until they were ready to be released. His overall aim is to educate the public on the conservation and protection of these beautiful birds. All of Phil's birds have been hand reared and he has the parents to all the birds, this is why they are so tame and friendly.  Phil keeps nine birds for showing at events such as this one and he has a passion to educate and entertain youngsters and the general public. Phil is renowned for his presentations at places such as Colchester's Natural History Museum, Noak Bridge Nature Reserve, Hanningfield Reservoir and Hyde Hall to name just a few and the funding raised has enabled him to continue his good work. Phil has always been keen to educate youngsters by showing them the birds up close and encouraging them to stroke and handle them without fear. Phil's presentation was followed by a live show of several owls from his collection and it was like a scene from the Great Hall at Hogwarts, where the owls descended. Phil apologised for the absence of 'Chuckles' his fun-loving Tawny Owl who for no reason at all got left behind. We were 'tweeted to' examples of Phil's humour on several occasions as part of his friendly and informative presentation. Most of his owls are friendly and loved to be stroked.

During the evening Phil asked for a volunteer from the audience so a young girl was able to experience an owl flying towards her and perching on her gloved hand. Phil has written an article for 'Naturenet', the UK's most popular independent countryside and conservation website, titled "New ideas in Environmental Education with Children". You can read the full article here. '

Casper' a Boobook Hawk Owl (Ninox boobook) was the first owl that we had the privilege of meeting. This friendly owl from Australia, like all owls, is superbly adapted for night-time hunting with its soft feathers effectively eliminating the noise of its flapping wings, allowing it to swoop upon unsuspecting prey. When threatened, it sits bolt upright, with feathers pressed tight against the body, and turn side-on to the source of the threat, appearing long and slender. The owl can be found almost anywhere where there are trees. Eucalyptus forest and woodland appears to be the optimum habitat but also mallee, mulga, semi-desert, tree-lined creeks, residual timber on farmland, leafy suburbs, offshore islands. They are generally absent from dense rainforest, except for the Red Boobook of north Queensland. The Boobook is renowned for its acrobatic skills in catching invertebrate prey such as moths, beetles, spiders and crickets. Vertebrates, such as rodents, small bats and birds are also taken. The entire prey is swallowed and the indigestible parts are regurgitated as a pellet at a later date. Their breeding season is usually late winter to early summer. They lay rounded eggs, white in colour, with 2 to 3 eggs per clutch. The nest is usually in a tree hollow and has a bed of chewed wood chips on the floor. The female incubates the eggs for around a month and she is fed by the male during this period. The main threat to this animal is habitat clearance. If their trees are cut down this species will have no hollows in which to breed. These sometimes playful little Owls are also known as Mopoke, Morepork, Spotted Owl, and Marbled Owl.

'Tyler' is a Spotted Eagle Owl (Bubo africanus) from Africa, a species of the Horned owls, being of medium size but one of the smallest of the Eagle owls. They inhabit most of Africa, south of the Sahara desert away from dense forests. Tyler can be seen in the first photograph, flying along the hall and taking food from Phil. Spotted Eagle Owls are nocturnal hunters spending the day concealed in trees, rock ledges or abandoned burrows. They are found in areas with rocky outcroppings, scrub land open woods and semi deserts. Spotted eagle owls do not avoid populated areas and will often hunt near roads often being struck by vehicles. The major cause of their death is from the pesticides used in agriculture for insect and rodent control. They mate, making their nest on the ground or occasionally on window ledges and are able to breed at around one year of age. Breeding begins in July, continuing to the first weeks February, the female laying between two and four eggs. During incubation, she leaves the nest only to eat what food the male has brought for her. The incubation period lasts approximately thirty two days with the young owls flying at around seven weeks of age and leaving the nest five weeks later at twelve weeks old. They have a life span of up to ten years in the wild and up to twenty in captivity.

‘Tyto' is a rescued Barn Owl (Tyto alba), who Phil has had for about 3 years. The Barn Owl is a stunningly beautiful bird with golden/buff coloured upper parts laced with silver grey and white under-parts. It has a distinctive white heart shaped face and when seen in flight the overall impression is of a large white bird. The flight is buoyant and wonderfully graceful, the wings (spanning 85cm) are much bigger than the body. A Barn Owl is fully grown from only ten weeks old, it stands 25cm tall (from head to feet) and is 33-35cm from the top of its head to the tip of its tail. Barn Owls shriek and hiss, they don't hoot (that's the Tawny Owl). Although there is a small degree of size variation this is not sex-linked. The sexes can be difficult to tell apart, particularly in the field. Females often have darker upper surfaces and small black spots on the underside. Males usually weigh around 330g and females around 360g although during the breeding season females may weigh as much as 400g. Barn Owls hunt mainly from the air (rather than from a perch) and have some amazing adaptations enabling them to find and catch small mammals hidden in deep vegetation in the dark. They don't generally venture into dense woodland but will forage over any open habitat that supports a population of small mammals. Barn Owls may roost or nest in any structure or tree that meets their requirements.

Farmers are the people who can do most towards conserving the Barn Owl population and many are justifiably proud to have them on their land. Our very own farmer, John Threadgold, has been actively encouraging Barn Owls on his farms for many years. They are proved to be beneficial to farmers, feeding as they do on the small rodents which can be pests. Boxes in outbuildings and trees encourage Barn Owls into the area but only if there is suitable feeding habitat in the vicinity. This can be provided by leaving areas of rough grassland or unmanaged field margins, along with well maintained and structured hedgerows thus providing good habitat for the rodent species that the owls prey on. Wild Barn Owls are protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981), which makes it illegal to disturb a barn owl at the nest. It is also listed under Schedule 9 of the Act, which means that a licence is required to release captive-bred birds into the wild.

'Amber' is a European Eagle Owl(Bubo Bubo), the largest owl of the evening with a wingspan of 5 ft and named after the colour of her huge eyes. Phil has had this gentle giant for eighteen years now and it is an exhibitionist who loves to play with the crowd, flying and swooping inches from the floor to get up close and personal with her admirers. This Eagle Owl is the largest and most powerful owl in the world, about 69 cms (27 inches) in length. It has a large beak and enormous talons but its most noticeable features are the striking orange eyes. It has prominent ear tufts which are raised or lowered depending on its mood. The plumage is mostly mottled but with bolder streaks on the breast. It takes a range of prey from insects to larger animals such as hares, and even game birds. It is an awesome hunter, able to kill foxes and small deer with its powerful beak and fearsome talons. Its feathers are wonderfully soft; this is not to make it cuddly, but to allow it to glide silently and unheard when hunting! The talons of this owl are capable of piercing 18 gauge steel ( that's the stuff that things like baking trays are made from!).

The European Eagle Owl is largely nocturnal and is found in mountains and forests with cliffs and rocky areas. It usually nests on cliff ledges but cannot be found in the wild in the United Kingdom (unless they have been illegally released), as they were heavily hunted during the 19th century. They live for around 20 years although like many other bird species in captivity they can live much longer, perhaps up to 60 years. The photographs to the left and right demonstrate how flexible an owl's head can be. Owls are unable to move their eyes in their sockets because of their size and tubular shape but to compensate, they have a deceptively long and flexible neck which enables them to turn their head 270° in either direction horizontally and at least 90° vertically.

We were running late and well over our scheduled time for finishing and where was Lesley, the bookings secretary for the Community Association? She would not normally have been present at the meeting but could hardly complain since she was sitting with the rest of us on this occasion, enjoying the presentation. Phil had one other owl to show us and actually apologised for running late despite the fact that the audience were thoroughly enjoying the presentation.

'Spook' a Snowy Owl (Nyctea scandiaca) from the Artic tundra was Phil's final owl for the evening. He looked just like Harry Potter's feathered friend 'Hedwig'. Phil has kept him for nineteen years. The Snowy Owl is a very beautiful, majestic bird. It is commonly found in Greenland, Iceland, Canada and the Northern USA and can grow up to 21 to 26 inches tall. The female is about one fifth bigger that the male. The Snowy Owl is actually one of the largest birds on the tundra. The female lays on average three to nine eggs in large clutches in grassy hummocks. A Snowy Owl's feet are covered with feathers and have extra thick pads.

They have incredible vision (including at night) and hunt by quartering over open land, searching for small mammals, insects and birds. They will sometimes take birds in the air, but the bulk of their prey is caught on the ground. They can see from high up in the sky and swoop down silently to capture their prey. Its primary food source in Scandinavia and the Arctic is the lemming and the food is swallowed whole or torn into large pieces. The Snowy Owl is generally only active around dawn or dusk or during the long twilight periods in polar winters and summers.

The aim of Phil's work is to convey a strong awareness of conservation, breeding most of the birds for eventual release into the wild. In the last 13 years, he has successfully released a staggering 120 barn owls back to the wild. Phil's approach to learning is with fun, humour and hands-on experience: a sentiment shared by Wakering & District Natural History Society.

At the end of his presentation, John Threadgold gave Phil our hearty thanks for a wonderful evening. It appeared that everybody had a thoroughly interesting and enjoyable evening this being one of the best indoor meetings that we have had for a long time, certainly not one to have missed.

Phil Eckett can be contacted via his email address which is: owlwise@hotmail.co.uk