An elusive ghost: Searching for the Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo) in the past of Britain

Abstract

The Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo) is currently absent as a regular breeder in Britain and its status as a native species has been debated. Its occurrence in the Pleistocene of Britain is sparse but uncontroversial, whereas its Holocene presence rests on very few ambiguous findings. Of these, a specimen from Demen's Dale (Derbyshire) originally attributed to the Mesolithic period is the most important. A re-evaluation of this bone (tarsometatarsus) is presented in this paper. Although its identification as an Eagle Owl is confirmed, radiocarbon dating suggests that the bird rather lived in the Late Pleistocene. On the basis of the current evidence, there are no Holocene remains of the Eagle Owl in the archaeological and fossil record of Britain and the native status of this species remains unconfirmed.

Songs of the past ‐ papers of the 10th ICAZ Bird Working Group Meeting

“…Hufthammer and Hufthammer (2023) provide the first overview of giant auk ( Pinguinus impennis ) remains from Norway and show that this species was already in decline during the Holocene. Albarella et al (2023) review the Holocene evidence for the presence of Eagle Owls ( Bubo bubo ) in Britain and its status as a native species. Orchard et al (2023) use a GIS‐approach of zooarchaeological sites to explore temporal patterns in Passenger Pigeon ( Ectopistes migratorius ) abundance.…”

Unlocking avian museum collections to enable and advance environmental change research

“…Location data have been used to describe and model geographical ranges and range shifts at large spatial scales (Graham et al 2010, Lagerholm et al 2017. These data are also important for establishing historical baselines to aid conservation planning (Albarella et al 2023, Crees et al 2023. Collections also enable a longer-term view of population change through combining historical literature with data from physical specimens (e.g.…”

“…These data are also important for establishing historical baselines to aid conservation planning (Albarella et al . 2023, Crees et al . 2023).…”