Silly Season - Eagle Owl spotted in Cardiff

August has always been known as the silly season for us journo's. At the start of the month our good friend David Jones, MP for Clwyd West predicted "Before the summer is over, we will also have the great white shark off the coast of Cornwall story, the escaped alligator in Leeds story and the cat that hitches a ride from Inverness to Croydon story" in his blog.

News is now reaching us that pet owners in Cardiff have now been warned about a rogue Eagle Owl that has been sited in Pontcanna.

Gethin Russell-Jones, spokesman for the RSPCA in Wales, told the South Wales Echo newspaper: "I would advise everyone definitely do not approach it. I don't need to describe it, if they have seen it they will know - it will be the biggest bird they have ever seen close up in their lives."

According to Wikipedia "The Eagle Owl is a large and powerful bird, smaller than the Golden Eagle but larger than the Snowy Owl. It is sometimes titled the world's largest owl, but so is the Blakiston's Fish Owl, which is slightly bigger on average. The Eagle Owl has a wingspan of up to 138-200 cm (55-79 in) and measures 58-75 cm (23-30 in) long. Females weigh 1.75-4.2 kg (3.9-9.4 lbs) and males weigh 1.5-3.2 kg (3.3-7 lbs). In comparison, the common Barn Owl weighs about 500 grams (1.1 lbs). It mainly feeds on small mammals, but can kill prey up to the size of foxes and young deer (up to 10 kg/22 lb), if taken by surprise. Larger prey (over 3 kg/7 lb) is consumed on the ground which leaves the bird vulnerable (for example to foxes)"

You have been warned!

Photograph by Adam Kumiszcza. Reproduced under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.