A Great Grey Owl Strix nebulosa had been repeatedly reported from an area near Larvik in Vestfold during February, but the exact locality was kept quiet by the group that first had visited and photographed the bird. It was probably thought that by releasing the exact locality, there would be a hoard of birders and photographers visiting and when difficult to find they would trample the area. Of course if this happened, it may disturb and even ruin the owls hunting success. Alternatively, it could just have been a case of plain selfishness by a few that wanted to have personal rights to the owl. Both alternatives have been widely discussed in the social media. Several of us visited the site on the 6th March as did several other eager birders and photographers hoping for the bird to turn up, which it eventually did. The owl flew in and landed on a favourite perch by our parked cars, fortunately where most visitors were standing. The owl is known to have been ringed as a youngster but an earlier attempt to catch the owl to control the ring number was unsuccessful. However, the owl is thought to be a second year bird.
