An MP of Owl: The BTO's Tawny Owl Point Survey

Owls are undoubtedly one of the most charismatic and popular groups of species we have in the UK.  From the diminutive little owl, through the ghostly barn owl to the twit-twooing tawny owl, all regularly feature near the top of the list of people’s favourite species. The barn owl came 2nd in the 2015 poll to find the nation’s national bird (https://www.votenationalbird.com/), behind the robin, which, if we’re honest, was never going to loose. And the collective noun for a group of owls is surely one of the best: a parliament of owls.

Tawny owl

There’s 6 owl species that can be found wild within the UK: tawny owl, barn owl, little owl, short eared owl, long eared owl and eagle owl. Tawny owls are synonymous with the night and are commonly used in TV shows to symbolize nighttime. When a dark sky and a bright moon might not be enough, adding the hooting of a tawny owl, maybe coupled with the barking of a fox, makes sure viewers know its late and potentially spooky. The infamous twit-twoo of the tawny owl is actually made by 2 birds: the twit (or kee-wit) is made by the female while the twoo is made by the male. Therefore if you hear a twit-twoo, there’s a pair of birds nearby.

We actually know relatively little about how tawny owls are doing in the UK. While they’re counted as part of the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) core monitoring schemes, the vast majority of counts submitted are carried out during the day and so aren’t ideal for surveying a predominantly nocturnal species. That’s why the BTO are currently running the Tawny Owl Point Survey. The aim of this survey is to characterise the tawny owl population in Britain through a national structured survey. The results will be compared with surveys carried out in the autumns of 1989 and 2005 to give an idea of how the tawny owl population is faring.

This survey is structured as a series of 6,000 tetrads distributed across the country. The tetrads are divided into high priority and low priority squares and as many as possible will be assigned to volunteers. It’s a real Citizen Science approach, so anyone can sign up for a square. Once you’ve been assigned a tetrad, you simply need to visit that tetrad on 1-3 (preferably at least 2) evenings before the 15th October and count the number of tawny owls you hear within 2 consecutive 10 minute periods. And divide the owls you hear into females (twit) and males (twoo). Naturally, you may not find owls within your tetrad, but understanding where owls aren’t is just as important as understanding where owls are.

If you do find tawny owls within your survey area, there’s a good chance they’ll still be there for the next rounds of the survey in spring and autumn 2019, as tawny owls will typically stay within the same territory year round.

In my visits to my tetrad so far, it’s fair to say I haven’t exactly had a parliament of owls calling. In fact, I haven’t yet had a single MP. The only nocturnal animal that has put in an appearance has been a hedgehog, but given their recent population decline, that’s still been nice to see.

I think this survey is a great example of Citizen Science and is addressing an important question. There are still plenty of tetrads available around the country (see the picture of the South East availability below). You can see a full list here if you’d like to take part: https://app.bto.org/tops/pub/sq.


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