A friend of mind said she was convinced she saw a Snowy Owl on the outskirts of Milton Keynes, Bucks. She said it was a large white owl, much bigger than a Barn Owl. Does anyone know whether we have Snowy Owls, because I've certainly never seen one and thought they were only sighted in the Shetlands?
Hi Jacob, it is possible, if they endure a severe enough winter, occasionaly some will move to where food can be found more easier, and so will cross over into britain. I'm no expert, just found that out in my book for you. Others may be able to tell you more.
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Hi,
every winter ( even summer) people report snowy owls, 99.9% turn out to be barn owls. Snowys are daytime hunters and actually fly more like heavy powerful hawks than fluttery barn owls.
Occasionally Snowy Owls make it down south, but they tend to appear down the west coast- Scilly and Cornwall spring to mind.
So my guess is- a Barn Owl- although I admit Snowys do escape from owl collections now and then I expect :)
S
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Thank you both for your replies - only wished I'd been there to see it! Apparently, it was spotted during the day which you suggest would be typical of a Snowy. Perhaps it escaped from Woburn Safari Park!!??
Hi Jacob do not wish to be rude but it may depend how knowledgable about birds your friend is,we have locally a very white Buzzard which unless you get close to it could perhaps be mistaken for a Snowy Owl and of course is seen in the daytime.We watch birds quite a lot and wondered about this bird for quite a while until we had good views of it.
michael s said: Hi Jacob do not wish to be rude but it may depend how knowledgable about birds your friend is,we have locally a very white Buzzard which unless you get close to it could perhaps be mistaken for a Snowy Owl and of course is seen in the daytime.We watch birds quite a lot and wondered about this bird for quite a while until we had good views of it.
White birds always look odd- it's harder to judge their size correctly too- I saw a large white bird over a reed bed years ago- it looked very odd til I scoped it- albino Marsh Harrier- never seen one b4 or since :)
Hi Jacob, welcome to the forum.
It is never easy to make an identification without knowledge of the area or a good description of the bird!
Shape, size, wing span, wing beat etc etc.
The only description we have is your friend and she was convinced it was a large white Owl!
It could well be an escapee, has there been any reports in local papers?
I have included the following link that shows all the recorded sightings in the UK, there are also many sightings of rare and scarce birds that go unrecorded and not reported as a lot of people don't know who to inform!
To date there has been 65 recorded sightings of Snowy Owls in the wild. ( Source Birdguides.Com )
On the 05/03/2010 a bird was sighted on Guernsey, prior to that sighting there was a bird sighted on Bru, Lewis in the Outer Herbrides.
http://www.birdguides.com/species/species.asp?sp=073084
Regards Buzzard
Nature Is Amazing - Let Us Keep It That Way
I've sighted one roosting in our office at Imajica in Aberdeen, we've decided to call him Jeff
Hi imajica
When was the last time you saw the Owl? I have checked a couple of sites and there is no news of a Snowy Owl anywhere.
Cheers
AL
If its no fun Yer no doin it right!
I saw a small snowy owl at dusk while cycling south east of Peterborough in the Northamptonshire countryside yesterday, 4th Jan 2025..it unmistakeable white and it unmistakeable an owl.
Barn owl.