You make some sound points on this topic. Many of the Eagle Owls at large in Britain now are birds which to all intents and purposes are "wild" in that they are the offspring of pairs (running back more than a few generations) in turn born wild, from original "escape/ released" stock.
My own direct experience, (limited, I stress) runs back to the mid 90's when a work colleague (aware of my interest in birding) mentioned to me that a farmer contact of a motor cycling pal of his, had Eagle Owls nesting on his land adjacent to the army property near Catterick in N. Yorks.
I was of course healthily sceptical, as might be expected for obvious reasons, and confidently suggested they would be mis-identified Long-eared Owls. After a few weeks I was invited by the farmer and his friend to go and see for myself, so I did go one evening.
The farmer immediately affirmed that the birds in question were indeed Eagle Owls, that they were nesting not for the first time on his land, and that an army officer was keeping an eye on them as young had previously been stolen from the nest. The farmer showed me an impressive scar on his neck, (a reward for approaching the nest too closely), and some whacking great pellets, black in colour and rather larger than a typical sausage; -he suddenly had my interest. The farmer added that Lapwings were now nesting with greater success than previously when peregrines had been preying upon them, as the Eagle Owls had cleared off the Peregrines. The Eagle Owls (as I think I recall correctly) were hammering the rabbit population, which pleased the farmer no end. I was taken to the large impressive but empty nest situated on a rocky ledge, the chicks having fledged and left. After a few more minutes, the farmer very impressively "called in" the owls with which he had been absorbed for a few years, and within a minute I was stunned when a bird which he identified as the female glided in by way of response and landed some 80 feet away in a tree. At that stage I had never seen an Eagle Owl at large, or indeed in the wild anyway, so one can imagine that I was surprised/ impressed, and truly delighted to see this.
I have a healthy respect for Bubo bubo, and really with no natural enemies, the species fears nothing. I was all too aware of an Eagle Owl once having killed a Swedish researcher who was leaving an active nest site when an adult hit him in the neck from behind at full belt. Accordingly as we walked off, my eyes were literally everywhere! Since then I have seen "tickable" wild Eagle Owls in both Spain and in Sweden. If the trend continues without the British birds being exterminated/ culled, there could indeed be recognition at some stage that these become tickable within cat "C" as you indeed speculate. As my own UK experience is most likely far too close to the "escaped" original parentage I should in all conscience have to twitch them again "properly" of course!
Regards, Mike P.
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Apparently Eagle Owls are not "countable" as they're not on the British List and all those seen in the Uk are considered to be of captive origin. Fair enough. But doesn't the same apply to Little Owl, Canada Goose, Ruddy Duck, Ring-Necked Parakeet and maybe others?
How many viable breeding pairs and generations of a species does it take to be accepted in Category C and therefore "tickable"? Because they certainly seem to be self-sustaining - or do the powers that be in London (or maybe Peterborough/Sandy) seize on any report of an escapee and declare that the population is therefore being artificially maintained, maybe to deprive them of protection in the event that a cull is called for?
And, if a single Eagle Owl of, say, definite Scandinavian origin, was suddenly found in the Far North of Scotland, would this suddenly give the rest of the population protection? Just suggesting ...
