Birds in Lincolnshire - Dark Breasted Barn Owl

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	Birds in Lincolnshire Dark-breasted Barn Owls in Lincolnshire
	Dark-breasted Barn Owls in Lincolnshire by Graham Catley . There have been a total of seven recorded occurrences of Dark-breasted Barn Owls, T.a.guttata, in Lincolnshire since the first in 1962 to the present day. Of these two were in autumn, September-October, one mid winter, January, and four in spring March-April. All have been found on the coastal strip between Tetney and Anderby Creek with three of the seven at Donna Nook. Somewhat surprisingly only one bird was recorded on more than one day that being the bird seen at North Cotes from March 1st-23rd 1975. This is the bird featured in the attached photo. I was fortunate to get the chance to photograph this individual on a calm Sunday afternoon. Driving up Sheepmarsh Lane, from Horseshoe Point, with the late Derek Robinson, we came across the owl perched on a gate-post on the side of the road. The photograph was taken with an old Soligor 350mm lens and amazingly through the windscreen of an aged cortina. The resultant shot was much better than I had dreamed. Since 1979 when there were two records of possibly the same individual at Donna Nook on March 19th and Tetney on April 12th there have been no accepted records of this very distinctive race, in the county. Is this due to the decrease in regular coastal coverage, particularly in the quiet early spring period, which seems to be a key occurrence window? These early spring birds may well be individuals that have wintered somewhere in England or Europe and are making the return journey to the continent via the east coast a regular occurrence with Short-eared Owls that often peak there in March and early April. Graham Catley Lincolnshire records: Tetney Oct 6th 1962 Donna Nook March 20th 1969 Anderby Creek Jan 19th 1974 North Cotes March 1-23rd 1975 (photod) Donna Nook Sept 15th 1976 Donna Nook March 19th 1979 Tetney April 12th 1979 Dark-breasted Barn Owl © Graham Catley 1975
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