Save An Owl For £1
The Stirk House Project

The Stirk House Project began its life on 11 June when we received an E-mail from Paul Caddy, owner of the Stirk House Hotel near Gisburn, which lies just north-east of the bustling market town of Clitheroe in Lancashire. Paul informed us that he owned some 20 acres of grassland surrounding the hotel, with an area of mature woodland as an added ‘extra’. In an effort to enhance the area he had planted no less than 3,000 native tree species over several acres and now wished to make the location more beneficial to owls. As a starting point he had erected several ‘Raptor Perches’ in the hope that these would encourage owls and other birds of prey.

To say this news excited us is to seriously understate the case, for here surely was a perfect location to kick start our ‘SAVE AN OWL’ campaign in earnest. We therefore lost little time in suggesting to Paul that we visit Stirk House Hotel so that we could come up with an acceptable management plan for him. We were thrilled when Paul agreed to meet Jenny and I on 11 July – which turned out to be a ‘red letter’ day to put it mildly!

Arriving at the hotel dead on time (a record, but we wanted to impress!) we were frankly, at first dumb-struck, and then somewhat embarrassed as we looked down at Paul’s handiwork. To put it quite simply, this man needed no management plan from us – he had done everything we have been preaching for over 43 years, and done it supremely well! Before us lay a panorama of short cut lawns interspersed with long grass areas cut through by meandering mown paths, with obvious signs of the 3,000 trees Paul had told us about, each protected by tree tubes to keep them safe from rabbit and deer damage. We could see the Raptor Perches, the background of mature woodland and its surrounding farmland, and lording over the whole scene was the magnificent 16th Century Manor House of the hotel itself. The whole thing took our breath away, and I must confess that my mind was already racing at the potential for both the Trust and the Hotel if we could get Paul ‘on board’. What would he be like?

We soon got our answer. He was great – served coffee, and even seemed very interested in the myriad suggestions I threw at him in my all too familiar ‘torrent’. Jenny tried hard to keep me under control, but to be honest I was by now way past sanity. This was a place I badly wanted to link up with! After we had got to know each other better and finished the coffee, Paul suggested we take a look at the Grounds - something I was itching to do, even though it had begun to rain quite heavily. Who cared, I was in seventh heaven!

The hotel is situated on high ground above the area we were interested in, and our immediate thought was “what a marvellous site for an observation hide for hotel guests to enjoy if we could make this a wildlife ‘honey pot’”. Paul led us along his enticing mown paths, my first response being to ‘do a Warburton’ by diving into the long grass on an inevitable ‘vole hunt’. I immediately began to salivate and perhaps get a little hysterical! In contrast with the almost total disappearance of Field Voles in my home ‘patch’ over the past two years, I found myself in vole ‘Mecca’ – their signs were everywhere - and when I peered down one of the tree tubes, I was astonished to find some 5 cm or so of very fresh grass stem vole dinner ‘leavings’ at the base of the tube. On checking more tubes, I found that virtually all of them showed the same result. By now I was jabbering. Turning to my companions I exulted “Paul, this is wonderful, marvellous, this is the best vole population I have seen for many a long year” - then I saw his face – and he let me into his secret. The reason he had contacted the WOT in the first place was to find out how to attract owls and birds of prey to get rid of the voles – which were apparently so numerous that they were decimating his young trees by ring-barking them!!! Whoops! However, to his credit Paul didn’t throw us off the premises there and then and even agreed to continue with the tour! My next question was “do you have any owls already”, to which he replied “yes, we have Tawny Owls, and the night staff have also reported a big brown owl with ear tufts on top of its head”.

Now ‘big’ is a funny word. Big as compared with what? The obvious identity would seem to be a Long-eared Owl, which would be exciting news by anyone’s standard. The only other regular British ‘eared’ owl, the largely diurnal ‘open-ground-loving’ Short-eared Owl, has ear tufts so short that they are virtually un-noticeable at a distance, and if it was present at Stirk House it would surely have been seen on a regular day-time basis? Then another mind-boggling possibility suddenly occurred to me. Stirk House lies just south-east of Bowland Forest – which just happens to be where a pair or two of Eagle Owls are successfully breeding. Could the hotel’s nocturnal visitor actually be a dispersing Eagle Owlet (now that is big!) which had stumbled upon this gold-mine of voles – easy pickings for a young owl? I hardly dared think of the possibilities. Imagine sitting in a hide in the grounds of a superb hotel, watching a hunting Eagle Owl. What an excuse for a few (or more!) celebratory drinks at the bar before (and after) dinner! I had visions of Paul having to build more annexes to house hordes of visiting birdwatchers who would surely travel hundreds of miles for such an experience. Wow!

Continuing with our walk, my mind racing, but trying to convince myself that it couldn’t possibly be an Eagle Owl – for being sensible (believe that if you like!) I knew such things don’t actually happen in real life. Then, suddenly, my eyes lit upon something lying in the middle of the path – a pellet - an owl pellet - but a massive owl pellet measuring some 10cm long x 4cm wide! Only one owl has pellets that big. You’ve guessed it – an Eagle Owl! Dissecting it we found the remains of voles and beetle larvae. I was ecstatic! This was indeed a red-letter day I’ll never forget. To be honest, the rest of the walk passed in something of a haze, for my mind was racing way ahead of itself.

Quite obviously Stirk House was not only the perfect place to create a ‘SAOF’ project, it was also perfect for a whole variety of other reasons. Back in the warmth of the hotel, Jenny and I were delighted to learn that Paul was also enthused with the idea of a symbiotic liaison between the Trust and the hotel. The ‘Stirk House Project’ was a ‘goer’.

It turned out that Paul and his wife Anne were already WOT members, having visited the World Owl Centre on several occasions and liking what they saw. It also transpired that it was Anne who had the ‘owlitis’ bug, and Paul informed us that since he was a professional ‘delegator’ it was Anne (Annie to her friends) who we needed to deal with in future. We are delighted to report that we have since met Annie, who is as excited as we are about the ‘Stirk House Project’ and we can think of no-one we will be happier to work with – not forgetting the man who set it all up – Paul. Thank you both – and thank you the Stirk House voles!!!

A MORNING TO REMEMBER Picture the scene. The alarm clock rings at 6am. It is still dark. Reluctantly – very reluctantly – you crawl out of your warm, super-comfy, king-sized bed and make the obligatory first cup of coffee of the day (essential for any true naturalist!). You take it across to the large picture window which dominates one entire wall of your bedroom. You are facing east, looking towards the village of Gisburn and the Ribble Valley. To the south lies the distant hump of Pendle Hill, haunt of the famed Pendle Witches. Your trusty binoculars are close to hand – just in case you chance to see one of them flying home on her broomstick as dawn breaks! The warm radiator beneath the window sill, and double-glazed windows ensure your creature comforts are well and truly catered for – and of course there is always that coffee to enjoy too!

You settle down to wait, hoping against hope that you will see a questing owl on its last patrol of the night. It is now 6.30am and slowly, imperceptibly at first, the darkness begins to lift a little. Peering through your binoculars your heart skips a beat as you become aware of a formless dark shape in the middle of the short-cut grass below the high bank on which your ‘super-hide’ room is located. The ‘shape’ moves. Is it the Badger whose scrapings you spotted in the nearby wood the previous day? The more you look, the more convinced you become. It is a Badger. Then it sits up on its hind legs, looks around and wipes its whiskers. It isn’t! It’s a large Hare! He lollops off (‘exit right’ I think they call it in theatre jargon) and chases a second Hare you hadn’t noticed until now. As the light increases, two more ‘Hares’ just below the bank transform themselves into Rabbits!

It is now 7am and the light of dawn promises a sunny day. However, to your surprise you realise that you are looking at the first hard frost of the 2008/09 winter – and the coffee has gone! Time for another. From the North a thick white mist rises as the sun’s rays slowly begin to warm the morning chill. As it does so, a magnificent Roebuck saunters regally along the edge of the short grass lawn bordering a rougher area where young trees have been planted to create a new wood. You are mesmerised. Suddenly something spooks him and he dashes for the shelter of a thick hedge to your left. Feeling safer, he turns to look over his shoulder, then, now relaxed, he browses on Hawthorn leaves, a wonderful sight. You try to see what scared him, expecting to perhaps spot a human intruder. It wasn’t. Gazing at him from the scrubby corner he had just left, is a second Roe, this time a young female.

Reassured, the buck joins her and the pair flow over the wire fence into an adjoining barley field (yes, ‘flow’ – Roe Deer don’t jump over fences, they ‘flow’. Just watch one do it and you will see what I mean). You watch them as they make their leisurely way along the far side of the barley field, where another thick hedge offers sanctuary for these shy and much persecuted creatures. To your delight, another doe, this time a larger, more mature animal, joins them and you realise that you are watching a family group, father, mother and daughter of the year. What a beautiful way to start a day!

Nor is this the end of it. Unbelievably a fourth deer emerges nearby and stares at the family. A second buck, he is obviously unsure and nervous of what kind of reception he will get. Both males still have their antlers, though it is getting near the time they will be shed. The newcomer, soon gets his answer as the family chase him off in unison, and they all disappear from view. Content, you take a last sweep of the area through your binoculars – and there, on one of the cut paths by a young three-year-old wood, is a fifth Roe Deer, another doe. The Rabbits are still chomping away on the short grass below you, and have now been joined by a Robin. On the barley stubble a group of five Pheasants, three Mallard, a number of Woodpigeons and Stock Doves and another two Hares have replaced the deer, and nearer to home a Kestrel hovers over the long grass in the hope of catching an unwary vole for breakfast.

Breakfast! To your surprise you realise it’s now 0745 and time for your breakfast. Hurriedly, you shower, dress and go to see what’s on offer. The answer – a superb ‘Full English’, a cafetiere of coffee and the day’s newspaper which gives the news that Manchester United are climbing up the Premier League Table at last. Perfection. What more could a man ask for? Well perhaps an owl or two – especially big ones!!!

Tony Warburton

WORLD OWL TRUST
The Owl Centre
Muncaster Castle
Ravenglass
Cumbria. CA18 1RQ
United Kingdom

Telephone: (+44) (0)1229 717393
FAX: (+44) (0)1229 717107
E-mail: here

World Owl Trust Registered Charity Number: 1107529 Limited Company Number: 5296745

The World Owl Trust is a member of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) and the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA). The Trust relies on a dedicated membership, visitors, donations and legacies.