Long-eared Owl - 2016

Rare passage migrant and winter visitor, 12 records since 2000.
Source: Pembrokeshire Bird List (2018 update) edited by Mike Young-Powell on behalf of the Pembrokeshire Bird Group.



Rare passage migrant and winter visitor, 12 records since 2000.
Source: Pembrokeshire Bird List (2018 update) edited by Mike Young-Powell on behalf of the Pembrokeshire Bird Group.
Asio otus otus
A scarce resident, which has bred occasionally. An adult and half-grown young in a small copse near Granant, 30 May 1912 (B.Birds XVIII 233). Has nested at Solva and near St Dogmaels (Bertram Lloyd). In 1935 nested in an old Magpie's nest in a small willow on the Dowrog, near St Davids (A.Brook).
R.M.Lockley, G.C.S.Ingram, H.M.Salmon, 1949, The Birds of Pembrokeshire, The West Wales Field Society
Irregular visitor, formerly bred
Mathew (1894) regarded the Long-eared Owl as a scarce winter visitor and reported that "bird-stuffers" received a few occasionally. Lockley et al. (1949) said it was a scarce resident and noted breeding near Granant, at Solva, near St Dogmael's and at Dowrog; the last breeding record was in 1935.
They have been recorded in 17 years since, mostly between January and March but also in May, July, October and November on the offshore islands, where nearly half the total has occurred.
No evidence exists to indicate their origin but it is tempting to think of Ireland as a likely source. Considering how inconspicuous they are it is conceivable that dispersing juveniles reach Pembrokeshire in most years and stay the winter; for example, there were roosts of three at Colby Moor in 1991 and at Rhodiad y Brenin in 1993.
The BTO winter atlas showed the 10km squares where Long-eared Owls were recorded during the winters of 1981-82, 1982-82 and 1983-84.
The darker the colour, the higher the relative total count for each 10km square. The darkest blue represents 2 birds seen in a day, the lighter blue represents single birds.
Graham Rees
Species account from M Mathew, 1894, "The Birds of Pembrokeshire and its islands"