Eco Hvar

Precious Birds: Saving Owls

The Scops Owl is a welcome visitor to Hvar Island every summer. Arriving between the middle of March or beginning of April its persistent single-note call is the hallmark of the warm season. 

Floof ready to fly... Floof ready to fly... Photo: Norman Woollons

Nature lovers on Hvar often go the extra mile to help creatures in need. In June 2024, when donkey saviour Jana Appleyard was told that a baby bird had fallen from its nest near one of the churches in Dol, she immediately went to the rescue. The tiny bundle of feathers was difficult to identify with certainty, but she suspected it was a Scops Owl, and this later proved to be true. Looking after such a frail, helpless little waif was sure to be challenging, with no guarantee that its life could be saved, but Jana rose to the occasion without hesitation.

Baby Floof, June 2024. Photo: Norman Woollons

The feathery bundle was given the name of Floof, and fed a baby diet of mice, ordered from the mainland and diced into tiny pieces for Floof's little beak. Jana's selfless diligent efforts were supported by Norman, also resident in Dol, who did some thorough research into Scops Owls and their needs, and reported on the baby and ts progress in his widely read blog 'Life in a Dol House'.

Baby Floof, happy in the hand. Photo: Norman Woollons

Floof thrived and quickly started to grow. This made it easier to identify the previously anonymous fluffy bundle of feathers with certainty as a Scops Owl. However, she or he? This question could not be solved, as it would require analysis of the bird's feathers - mission impossible on the island.

Floof, 6th July 2024. Photo: Norman Woollons

The experience of watching baby Floof grow and develop led Norman to the idea that it was the perfect opportunity to ring him/her in order to track his/her future movements, as Scops Owl migrations have not been fully investigated to date. However, organising the ring proved impossible, as the major bird  conservation organisations are based in northern Croatia, too far away to coordinate a ringing mission in mid-summer just for one little bird.

Floof, July 6th 2024. Photo: Norman Woollons

 By July 13th Floof was progressing extremely satisfactorily:

Floof growing up. Photo: Norman Woollons

 No longer a little waif fitting into the palm of a hand!

Measuring up. Photo: Norman Woollons

Although Floof was obviously comfortable being handled and living in human company, the instinct to explore the great world beyond and live a bird's life was obviously growing apace alongside Floof's physical development. Before the end of July 2024, Floof was ready to leave, after only a short apprenticeship experimenting with the art of flying. Having flown to freedom without hindrance, Floof came back to base for a 'flying visit', as if to say 'thanks for everything' and then disappeared off into the distance.

Floof, last picture before flying away. Photo: Norman Woollons

As Norman poignantly put it in his blog dated 13th July 2024: "Human summer visitors to the Mediterranean basin will have heard the almost electronic sounding calls of the Scops. However few will have seen one and fewer still will have had the privilege that I have had of having one like Floof on my hand. I have definitely been Floofed!" Looking back over her relationship with Floof, Jana movingly expressed the fondest emotions: "Ah, dear Floof! It all seems like a dream now! He used to come and have a nap with me and cuddle up. So sweet- I hope I see him again, it was such an amazing experience. Even getting up for his 3am feeds!"

It is also true that even at a remove, this exceptionally lovable bird captured the hearts of everyone who followed the story..

Floof's progress was recorded in some charming videos, courtesy of Hvar Digital / Norman Woollons:
 
The care shown by Jana and Norman was rewarded with success which was enjoyed by the numerous well-wishers who followed Floof's story. Many people on Hvar, native islanders and incomers alike, care about the island's birds and wildlife and are concerned about the species losses which are becoming more evident year on year. Tragically, there are people on the island who have no respect or understanding for the island's natural riches. One example is the long-standing tradition of trapping song-birds during their autumn migration, in order to keep them for the rest of their miserable lives in tiny cages, singing their hearts out mourning for their lost freedom. The practice of trapping wildlife was outlawed some years ago, but some islanders still do it. One Saturday afternoon in November 2023,  tourists walking in the hills came across a little bird caught in a trap 
Caught in an illegal trap. Photo: private album
The helpless victim has been identified by experts as a Long-Eared Owl. One wing was injured, probably in its struggles to break free. The tourists contacted the police in Split, knowing that such a trap contravened European laws for the protection of wildlife. They also freed the bird. The Split police informed their colleagues on Hvar, who immediately went with the local vet to rescue the bird and remove the trap. Eco Hvar was told that the bird survived, but no further details of its fate were forthcoming.
Scops Owl, Dol 2017. Photo: Steve Jones
We are glad that more and more people are demonstrating love and care for the environment with its flora and fauna. Visiting and resident bird lovers follow the activities of the island's birds as a measure of the health of the island. When the Scops Owl departs as autumn looms, the haunting lower-pitched call of the Eagle Owl is one of the rare bird sounds breaking the silence of the night. We hope that Floof will be among the returnees next spring, maybe even visiting the kind friends who saved his/her life in Dol!
Scops Owl, Dol, 2017. Photo: Steve Jones
Note: we are grateful to Jana Appleyard and Norman Woollons for saving Floof, and to Steve Jones for helping to identify the bird caught in the illegal trap.
 
  © Vivian Grisogono MA(Oxon) 2024
back to top
You are here: Home Nature Watch Precious Birds: Saving Owls

Eco Environment News feeds

  • Fumes, rats and maggots: peer urges Environment Agency to clear illegal dump in Wigan

    Shas Sheehan challenges refusal to remove 25,000 tonnes of waste causing ‘grave environmental hazard’ near school

    A 25,000-tonne illegal waste dump next to a primary school in Wigan presents “a grave environmental hazard” and should be cleared, the chair of the Lords environment committee has told the government.

    Shas Sheehan challenged the refusal of the Environment Agency to clean up an illegal waste dump in Bolton House Road in the Greater Manchester town, given the agency was spending millions clearing up illegal waste deposited in Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘Hope and relief’ as seaside town’s last youth centre saved

    Charity praises effort to stop Ramsgate’s Pie Factory Music closing but calls for more youth services in coastal towns

    The last remaining youth centre in one of England’s most deprived coastal places has been saved from being sold after a long campaign by the charity that has for 13 years called it home.

    In November the Guardian revealed how the centre in Ramsgate on the Kent coast was facing being auctioned off by Kent county council, despite an independent report that estimated the centre was saving the council more than £500,000 a year in costs, including for services in mental health, youth justice and social care.

    Continue reading...

  • Flawed economic models mean climate crisis could crash global economy, experts warn

    States and financial bodies using modelling that ignores shocks from extreme weather and climate tipping points

    Flawed economic models mean the accelerating impact of the climate crisis could lead to a global financial crash, experts warn.

    Recovery would be far harder than after the 2008 financial crash, they said, as “we can’t bail out the Earth like we did the banks”.

    Continue reading...

  • The Green surge shows British politics has reached a turning point - and it has surprisingly little to do with Zack Polanski | Aditya Chakrabortty

    At a party event in a school hall in Lewisham, people told me how disillusionment with Labour has led to this moment

    “How many?”

    On the end of the phone is a nice press officer for the Greens, head full from a long day in Gorton, Manchester, showing off their would-be MP. And now, as Friday’s sky turns indigo, I’m calling about reports from Lewisham, south London, that tomorrow they’re expecting a flood of 500 Green activists. This comes as a surprise to the party’s own news machine.

    Aditya Chakrabortty is a Guardian columnist

    Continue reading...

  • ‘We can learn from the old’: how architects are returning to the earth to build homes for the future

    Rammed earth sourced from, or near, the grounds of a proposed building site is attracting attention as an eco-friendly construction material

    From afar, the low-rise homestead perched in the Wiltshire countryside may look like any other rural outpost, but step closer and the texture of the walls reveal something distinct from the usual facade of cement, brick and steel.

    The Rammed Earth House in the Cranborne Chase is one of the few projects in the UK that has been made by unstabilised rammed earth – a building material that consists entirely of compacted earth, and which has been used as far back as the Neolithic period.

    Continue reading...

  • Green energy sector drove more than 90% of China’s investment growth last year, analysis finds

    Industry bigger than all but seven world economies, and accounts for more than third of China’s economic growth

    China’s clean energy industries drove more than 90% of the country’s investment growth last year, making the sectors bigger than all but seven of the world’s economies, a new analysis has shown.

    For the second time in three years, the report showed the manufacture, installation and export of batteries, electric cars, solar, wind and related technologies accounted for more than a third of China’s economic growth.

    Continue reading...

  • Country diary: There’s a seaweed party going on on the storm beach | Tim Earl

    Castletown Bay, Isle of Man: The smell is unpleasant, but these slimy mounds are full of flies, molluscs and sand hoppers – all vital winter food

    My British Trust for Ornithology wetland bird survey includes patrolling a storm beach, which, at this time of year, has huge piles of rotting wrack thrown up by the gales. They’re made up of hand-like fronds of laminaria, bladderwrack with its buoyant bubble vesicles, sugar kelp and the long “washing line” strands of non-native sargassum seaweed that arrived from Japan on Pacific oysters and ships’ hulls in recent years.

    These slimy, smelly heaps are generally unpopular with passersby – some even call for their removal – but for wildlife they are a food source of the highest quality.

    Continue reading...

  • Feeling chirpy: how listening to birdsong can boost your wellbeing

    Paying attention to the calls of our avian neighbours can reduce stress, find scientists in Germany

    Feeling stressed? Try a dose of birdsong to lift the spirits. A new study shows that paying attention to the treetop melodies of our feathered friends can boost wellbeing and bring down stress levels.

    Previous research has shown that people feel better in bird-rich environments, but Christoph Randler, from the University of Tübingen, and colleagues wanted to see if that warm fuzzy feeling translated into measurable physiological changes. They rigged up a park with loudspeakers playing the songs of rare birds and measured the blood pressure, heart rate and cortisol levels (a marker of stress) of volunteers before and after taking a 30-minute walk through the park. Some volunteers experienced the birdsong-enriched environment, some heard just natural birdsong, and some wore noise-cancelling headphones and heard no birdsong. Half of the recruits were asked to pay attention to the birdsong.

    Continue reading...

  • Landslides on one side, floods on the other: the Costa Rican village desperate to escape the climate crisis

    With government action stalled and living in ‘inhumane’ conditions, families in San José are making plans to relocate

    In Emilio Peña Delgado’s home, several photos hang on the wall. One shows him standing in front of a statue with his wife and oldest son in the centre of San José and smiling. In another, his two sons sit in front of caricatures from the film Cars. For him, the photos capture moments of joy that feel distant when he returns home to La Carpio, a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Costa Rica’s capital.

    Delgado migrated with his family from Nicaragua to Costa Rica when he was 10, as his parents sought greater stability. When he started a family of his own, his greatest hope was to give his children the security he had lacked. But now, that hope is often interrupted by the threat of extreme weather events.

    Continue reading...

  • From Dorset to the world: wave of donations helps to secure Cerne giant’s home

    Support from more than 20 countries propels National Trust to its target to protect chalk figure and local wildlife

    It feels like a very British monument: a huge chalk figure carved into a steep Dorset hillside that for centuries has intrigued lovers of English folklore and legend. But an appeal to raise money to help protect the Cerne giant – and the wildlife that shares the landscape it towers over – has shown that its allure stretches far beyond the UK.

    Donations have flooded in from more than 20 countries including Australia, Japan and Iceland, and on Tuesday, the National Trust confirmed it had reached its fundraising target to buy land around the giant.

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds

Copyright © 2026 Eco Hvar. All Rights Reserved. Developed by Orion Informatika.