The Largest Collection of Owls in the World

 
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"SUCH A WONDERFUL AND UNIQUE PLACE TO LEARN ABOUT WILDLIFE!"

senninhasenninha, tripadvisor.co.uk

 
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100+ OWLS FROM
AROUND THE WORLD

DAILY ALL-WEATHER
FLYING DISPLAYS

HANDS-ON
EDUCATION FEATURES

HOLD AN OWL FOR A PHOTO

ADVENTURE PLAYGROUND

PICNIC AREA

GIFT SHOP

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FACE TO FACE

Now you can meet face to face the birds that you've only heard as a distant Twit-Twoo. From the giant Siberian Eagle Owl to the tiny Scops Owl you can learn about their habits and habitats and how to help in their conservation. Let these awesome creatures inspire you to make a difference.

 

"WOW, WOW AND WOW AGAIN!!"

C. Kiddell, Somerset

 
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CONNECT WITH US

Another little home-grown produce project we had last year was a bumper crop of Sloes grown in a few of the aviaries (most came from the Tawny Owl aviary!) Hopefully, we'll have the same again this year! Once again, our multi-talented volunteer Ruth, used them to brew a batch of Sloe Gin using the harvested Sloe berries! 😄 She even went to the trouble of packaging and labelling the beverage. Ruth used a photo of Tony, our Tawny Owl, as the face of 'Tawny Tipple' a 'Strix Sloe Gin' 😊 #strixaluco #tawnyowl #tawnytipple #sloegin #homegrownsloes #scottishowlcentre #freshproduce #owl #owlsofinstagram #owlsoftheworld #britishowls #europeanowls #raptors #birdsofprey #plantingprojects Our Oriental Bay Owl female peering through some foliage🦉Last year, one of our volunteers, Ruth, came up with the idea of growing climber plants up the front of the mesh on some of our aviaries. Ruth sourced and planted things like runner beans and sweet peas. Once the plants had begun to flourish, we noticed a change in behaviour from some of our more cautious owls - like the Bay Owls. They ventured closer to the front of their aviaries and sat behind the climber plant! With just a little extra veil between them and the public, they felt more at ease and curious to come closer ☺ Staff and volunteers also got to take home the fresh runner beans to cook with them! This year, that's going to be a new focus of ours. We hope to incorporate more plants that will grow fresh, edible, sustainable produce to help to educate children on where their food actually comes from (before the supermarket! 😛) and could be grown in their own gardens 🙂 We also hope to be able to give out some of our produce at the Centre to anyone who is interested in experimenting with/using more fresh ingredients in home cooking 😊 #orientalbayowl #phodilusbadius #owls #climberplants #planting #freshingredients #sustainableingredients #birdsofprey #scottishowlcentre #newyearplans #raptors #owlsofinstagram #owlsoftheworld Another stunning species of tiny owl! This is the female of our pair of Indian Scops Owls🦉Her dark brown eyes look almost burgundy in certain lights 😊 #indianscopsowl #otusbakkomoena #owl #tinyowl #tinypredator #beautiful #owlsofinstagram #owlsoftheworld #scottishowlcentre #birdsofprey #tinyraptor #weeowls #wee #weebeauty Happy New Year from the Scottish Owl Centre!🦉Wishing everyone all the best for 2019 😊 To round off 2018, here are 'then vs. now' photos of the five youngsters who were reared as new ambassadors for our flying display team this year 💜 They have all been such characters and have grown into fantastic ambassadors. In order of descending age, we have: Alicanto, the Magellanic Horned Owl; Mel, the Melanistic Barn Owl; Rafiki, the Milky Eagle Owl; Grendel, the Little Owl and Sheila, the Southern Boobook Owl ☺ #magellanichornedowl #melanisticbarnowl #milkyeagleowl #littleowl #southernboobookowl #bubomagellanicus #tytoalba #bubolacteus #athenenoctua #ninoxboobook #owls #youngsters #owlets #ambassadors #flyingdisplayteam #happynewyear #owlynewyear #raptors #birdsofprey #scottishowlcentre #thenandnow Stunning Western Siberian Eagle Owl feathers 😍 Each one of the primaries runs the length of a human's forearm! These all came from Altai, with her 6ft wingspan🦉#westernsiberianeagleowl #bubobubosibiricus #owl #amazingowls #beautifulowls #owlfeathers #feathers #raptors #birdsofprey #scottishowlcentre #wingspan #huge #majestic Merry Christmas from all of us here at the Scottish Owl Centre! 🎅🏻 As always, Senior Keeper Trystan dilligently took care of all of our birds today, allowing the rest of the staff free time to enjoy Christmas at home. We're extremely grateful for all that he does ☺ #owls #Christmastime #merrychristmas #westernsiberianeagleowl #bubobubosibiricus #winterowls #raptor #birdsofprey #scottishowlcentre #owl #beautifulowls #owlsofinstagram You wouldn't believe that little champagne coloured floofball grew up into this stunning little Southern Boobook Owl🦉Sheila has always been incredibly photogenic 😍 In the 2nd pic she was around 4 or 5 weeks old. The 1st picture was taken yesterday and she's around 7 months old now 😊 #southernboobookowl #ninoxboobook #owl #owlsoftheworld #raptor #birdsofprey #owlet #scottishowlcentre #owls #beautifulowls Tomsk, our female Ural Owl in the snowy park last year ☺ We haven't had anywhere near as much snow this year just yet... But there's still time! 😂 #uralowl #strixuralensis #owl #snow #birdsofprey #beautifulowls #owlsoftheworld #europeanowls #coldclimateowls #winter #raptor #scottishowlcentre The ever-handsome Mr. Spock, our display team Long-Eared Owl🦉LEOs have been observed to display a fairly unique behavior in the owl world. Owls are often very solitary creatures, with even bonded pairs spending most of their time at opposite ends of their territory to one another - but LEOs will occasionally roost communally, thought to be a form of defense mechanism (safety in numbers) 😊 Sometimes there can be up to around 20 Long-Eared Owls roosting in the same tree! 🦉🌲 #asiootus #longearedowl #owls #fascinating #communalroost #owlsoftheworld #britishowls #scottishowlcentre #raptors #birdsofprey #beautifulowls #owlbehaviours
This is Grendel, our young male Little Owl ☺ Throughout history, Little Owls were often kept domestically in houses with clipped wings to act as domestic pest control for humans. However, times have moved on since then and, thankfully, European legislation was passed protecting them from being kept in this manner. Now, it's new forms of pest control that cause this stunning little species trouble in modern times🦉 Pesticide use has an extremely negative effect on the insect food supplies that the Little Owl is so reliant upon for survival. Humans need to learn from both these mistakes. Yes, insect hunters like Little Owls make a fantastic pest control service, but keeping them trapped in a domestic home environment is unsuitable. Out in the wild, they can thrive as our pest control service - if we were to stop using those chemicals that reduce and contaminate their food sources. Instead, we could try to encourage the owls' presence on our land 🙂🦉Natural insect-hunters like the Little Owl are far more effective at keeping insect numbers down than any spray, tub or pellet that humans synthesise... All we have to do is take a step back and let nature keep itself in balance ☺ That's not to say we can't also try to give natural predators a little helping hand from time to time. We could help by putting out bug hotels, or plant more flowers and shrubs in our gardens (by encouraging the prey first, the predator then follows 😊) We can also provide nest boxes for the owls 🙂 #littleowl #athenenoctua #owls #predatorandprey #conservation #trustnature #balance #raptors #owlsinhistory #owlsoftheworld #scottishowlcentre #ideas #littlethingsmakeadifference #beautifulowls #owlsofinstagram #pintsizepredator #birdsofprey We've been finding evidence of an overnight visitor in our indoor flying arena this past week or so🦉Wild Barn Owls quite often frequent our Centre during the bad weather months. It was at a similar time last year that we had a wild visitor overnighting in the sheltered areas of our Centre 😊 We've been finding pellets, white down feathers and lots of droppings strewn about the corners of our arena! Senior Keeper Trystan has set up the camera trap in the hope we might catch some footage of the visitor as it comes and goes🤞🏻We're also leaving out a little food supply each night, just in case the wild owl struggles to find food during hunts on more windy and rainy nights 🙂 #barnowl #tytoalba #wildvisitor #owls #britishowls #owlsoftheworld #raptor #birdsofprey #scottishowlcentre #pellets #evidence #nature #beautifulowls There's a fierce intensity underlying in an owl's gaze🦉Sometimes you wish you could see through a little window into their heads ☺ See what else goes on in there, other than 'food?' 😝 Profile of little Sheila, our Southern Boobook Owl #southernboobook #ninoxboobook #owl #owlsofinstagram #owlsoftheworld #australianowls #birdsofprey #fierceeyes #intensegaze #raptors #scottishowlcentre When someone gets offended at you picking up all of his pellets and other assorted junk from his aviary. This is his way of demanding that I return it to precisely where I found it! 😂 Pavlov the Mackinder's Eagle Owl gives me no peace when I'm trying to clean his and Nyala's aviary 😝 #mackinderseagleowl #bubocapensismackinderi #owlsofinstagram #scottishowlcentre #owlsoftheworld #owl #raptors #birdsofprey Zeus, our male Eurasian Eagle Owl🦉The Scottish Owl Centre is now officially closed until we re-open again for weekends in January 🙂 Gives all of our trained birds, like Zeus here, a well-earned break during the coldest time of year ❄ Also gives our staff at the Centre freedom to dedicate their full attention to maintenance work around the Centre. Things like refurbishing aviaries, changing perching for the owls, deep cleans and one to one training sessions, too! 😊 #owls #bubobubo #eurasianeagleowl #winterseason #owlsoftheworld #scottishowlcentre #birdsofprey #raptors #eagleowls #stunning #piercingeyes #aerialpredator Tiger before and after his annual moult🦉He is soggy in the 'after' picture cause he'd just had a bath but, even still, you can see how much his feather condition has improved 😍 His colouring has become so much more vibrant again now! General wear and tear on the feathers through the year inevitably results in them getting dull and scruffy eventually. Now Tiger has replaced all of those worn feathers, he almost doesn't look like the same owl 😆 This is one of the main reasons why we work our owls on rotation throughout the year. It's to give them a relaxation period, too, but it's important that each member of our trained team is given the rest period needed to spark any moulting they need to do 🙂 #brownwoodowl #strixleptogrammica #owl #moult #beforeandafter #owlsoftheworld #rainforestowls #scottishowlcentre #birdsofprey #raptor #feathers #annualmoult Our little Sunda Scops Owl giving me a threat display whilst I was cleaning her aviary🦉Making sure I didn't come too close to her perch 😝 Cleaning is only acceptable at the opposite end of the aviary to her 😂 On a serious note, though, the 'small brown owls' don't get enough credit... Too often people will just walk past without giving them a second glance - but look how stunning she is when you look closely 😍 #sundascopsowl #otuslempiji #smallowl #tinypredator #beautiful #raptor #birdsofprey #tinyhunter #owl #owlsoftheworld #scottishowlcentre #threatdisplay Our female Rusty-Barred Owl with her beautiful, big, dark eyes🦉A nocturnal owl's eyes are a pair of fascinating, highly evolved hunting tools 👀 Ideally designed with binocular vision and incredible perception in the absence of light. Although unable to see in absolute darkness (an owl is as blind as we humans are in complete, pitch darkness!), it is low levels of light in which their vision truly excels. If as little as moonlight or starlight is available to them in the middle of the night, they can see as clearly as a human could in the middle of a bright, sunny day ☺ If there is no light available, the owl will hunt blind, relying on their highly acute hearing to locate prey instead #rustybarredowl #strixhylophila #owlsoftheworld #owlsofsouthamerica #birdsofprey #owl #owlsenses #hunting #nocturnal #raptor #scottishowlcentre #nightbird #darkeyes #acutesenses #huntingtools Tawny Owl populations in the UK have plunged into a decline. Their status changed very recently from green to amber, which caused the BTO to launch their 'Tawny Owl Calling Survey'. This involves members of the public who take part being assigned a 'tetrad' (green area, potential habitat) which is visited for just 20 minutes to listen for any calling Tawny Owls. You can repeat the process as often or as little as you choose over subsequent weeks, 20 mins is the minimum. You record a tiny little bit of data and forward this to BTO. Through this survey, BTO hope to be able to plot a population map to determine just how concerning the Tawny Owl decline is and get a better handle on the distribution of owls left in the UK. For more information, visit BTO's website and search 'Tawny Owl Calling Survey'. Or you can Google 'BTO Tawny Owl'. Some of our staff and volunteers at the Centre have already been taking part and the survey runs till March 31st 2019. A small effort like this done by a lot of people can make all the difference to conservation of these beautiful birds in the wild 🦉 #tawnyowl #btotawnyowlcallingsurvey #callingsurvey #btotawnyowl #projectowl #btosurvey #strixaluco #conservation #littlethingsmakeadifference #birdsofprey #owls #owlsoftheworld #britishowls #scottishowlcentre When rainy days equal bath days, and bath days equal some very funny owl faces 😂 #soggyowls #bathdayforowls #owlsoftheworld #owls #scottishowlcentre #southernboobookowl #africanwoodowl #northernhawkowl #ninoxboobook #strixwoodfordii #surniaulula #birdsofprey #bathday
 
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"WONDERFUL DAY - BEST FLYING SHOW EVER!!"

P. Clockerty, Glasgow

 
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