By Huw
WilliamsBBC Scotland reporter
12 March
2019
When a
rare Tengmalm's Owl turned up in Orkney last November, it was decided to
"suppress" news of its exact location.
The bird,
which had only been seen in Britain a handful of times, had been spotted on the
island of Copinsay.
The
presence of such a rare visitor would normally attract hundreds of birdwatchers
desperate to see it for themselves.
But the
exact location remained a tightly guarded secret, with only three people aware
that it had taken up temporary residence in an outside toilet at the island's
lighthouse.
The
secrecy was because of Copinsay's role as an important seal breeding ground.
However,
rumours of the owl's visit had begun to circulate, and the Scottish
Birds magazine has now revealed the lengths gone to by some
people in an attempt to get around the news blackout.
They
included inventing a falconer who had supposedly lost a Tengmalm's Owl.
Martin
Gray, who wrote the article with Alan Leitch from the RSPB, told BBC Radio Orkney: "It's
an extremely rare bird. It's only occurred in Britain a handful of times.
"The
last record that was widely available to the general public was in 1980.
"So
there's been almost two generations of twitchers who've not had the chance to
see one."
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