New OAP Tawny Owl in Kielder Forest

With rangers lamenting the disappearance of one of the country's oldest Tawny Owls in Kielder Forest, another old bird has been discovered. Two years ago the Forestry Commission revealed that Boudica, at 21 years old, was only a few months short of becoming the oldest known Tawny Owl in the UK (more details can be found on the BTO's Demog Blog). Although it's believed she passed that milestone — judging by evidence found in her nesting box — she then vanished before she could be caught again to establish irrefutable proof.

But now experts have found a 20-year-old female Tawny Owl near Kielder Castle Visitor Centre, Northumberland — almost twice the average life expectancy of birds in the wild.

Brian Little, one of the leaders of the long-running Kielder Tawny Owls project, said: "It's incredible to find Tawnies of this age. Everyone was gutted by the death of Boudica, but to find a bird almost as old is real consolation. Mind you, she'll need to keep Father Time at bay for another couple of seasons to beat the oldest Tawny Owl record. But with plenty of food around you wouldn't put it past her."

Brian Little with 21-year-old Boudica, in 2008. (Photo: Forestry Commission)

Thanks to the 30-year Tawny Owl project in Kielder Forest — the longest-running study of its kind in the UK — experts know that the latest OAP owl was ringed as a chick in 1990. She first raised chicks when she was just one year old, in one of the 230 nest boxes erected by the Forestry Commission. She then went missing for seven years before later returning to the same box.

Tom Dearnley, Forestry Commission Ecologist, said: "We're constantly creating wildlife habitats in Kielder, but the proof of the pudding is how animals are faring. Judging by the way Tawnies have taken to the forest, we are on the right track. It underlines the ecological importance of long-term conservation work in this breathtaking wilderness."