It was an Eagle Owl

Regular readers will recall a series of stories last year suggesting that an Eagle Owl, an extremely rare bird in Britain, was responsible for a number of attacks on local pets.

While there were reports from a number of people who said they had seen the bird, most were along the lines of: "I don't think it was a Buzzard and it could have been an Eagle Owl." A vet that treated one victim said it looked like an eagle owl that could have been responsible but there was, of course, no proof.

Now, on an AWEG (Audlem Wildlife & Ecology) trip on Thursday comes news of the most positive sighting so far. A couple of new AWEG members had a clear view of the bird last year on the Whitchurch road between Green Lane and Moorsfield Avenue.

It was near to this area of the village that one attack took place and a 'large bird' was thought to have been responsible for another. This sighting in the area looks as if the mystery has been solved. Audlem was visited for a period of time by a very rare and large bird.

Thursday's AWEG visit was to the Wood Lane site near Colemere in Shropshire where the group enjoyed the views from two hides, followed by a visit to Ellesmere to see the heronry.

Last year's visit by the group to Wood Lane included another very rare event – seeing a Sacred Ibis, a rare visitor to Britain, probably from Morocco, but one that stayed at the Shropshire meres for a lengthy period.

Mist was a problem early in the morning on Thursday but this cleared to glorious sunshine for the main attraction, a walk around Colemere. Large numbers of Great Crested Grebes, a bird driven almost to extinction as Victorian hat makers used the grebe's spectacular throat feathers, are on the lake and this species is famous for its courtship routines.

While the group failed to see the full routine where the birds pass gifts of weed (not what you may be thinking! That's human courtship in some circles.) to each other, the grebes laid on the first part of their routine with vigorous synchronised head shaking, as in the photo, in sunshine so bright the birds' images were also reflected on the waters of the mere.

Unfortunately, despite urging from some of the AWEG members, the next part, the so-called 'weed dance', failed to take place. As one of the group observed, maybe the grebes only did this in the privacy of the fog that had just lifted.

Summer must also be on its way. Even though not seen by AWEG on Thursday, migrant Wheatear, Chiffchaff and Sand Martins have all been spotted in Shropshire in recent days.

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