An elusive ghost: searching for the Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo) in the past of Britain

The Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo) is currently absent as a regular breeder in Britain and its status as a native species has been debated. Its occurrence in the Pleistocene of Britain is sparse but uncontroversial, whereas its Holocene presence rests on very few ambiguous findings. Of these, a specimen from Demen's Dale (Derbyshire) originally attributed to the Mesolithic period is the most important. A re-evaluation of this bone (tarsometatarsus) is presented in this paper. Although its identification as an Eagle Owl is confirmed, radiocarbon dating suggests that the bird rather lived in the Late Pleistocene. On the basis of the current evidence, there are no Holocene remains of the Eagle Owl in the archaeological and fossil record of Britain and the native status of this species remains unconfirmed.