A bonus of going to this year's NNBC Christmas Dinner was a superb sighting en route of a Long-eared Owl sitting in the roadside hedgerow between Yearle and Wooler. There it sat, about a metre away from the car, orange eyes glowing and 'ears' pricked up.( really just tufts of feathers- nowt to do wi' hearing!) What a beautiful bird, what a treat!
The first LEO I ever saw in the County, indeed the first 'close' view I ever had of one was in 2004....... driving home along the very same little country road in early January, likewise sitting in the hedgerow. I thought that sighting was a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity............ but again in December 2011, in the same place, lo and behold, there were TWO Long-eared Owls in the hedge! I suspect that there may be a daytime winter roost tucked away somewhere in the vicinity, though all four birds seen alongside this stretch of road in the hours of darkness have of course been wide awake.
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