Leeds Owl - Watching You!

claireblue · Post by **claireblue** » Sat 13 Oct, 2012 10:41 pm

Disappointing to see that the Leeds 'Owlympic' Map I picked up in The Grove this evening leaves out our little Merrion Center owl... but yes it really does exist the official LCC Owl Trail, the leaflet consists of 25 Leeds Owls across the city center and a fold out, detailed map of their whereabouts. More details at www.leedsowltrail.com, where they also ask for any information about owls that they may have missed off to be emailed to [email protected]. Come on people uphold your civic duty!!

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Sat 13 Oct, 2012 11:20 pm

claireblue wrote: Disappointing to see that the Leeds 'Owlympic' Map I picked up in The Grove this evening leaves out our little Merrion Center owl... but yes it really does exist the official LCC Owl Trail, the leaflet consists of 25 Leeds Owls across the city center and a fold out, detailed map of their whereabouts. More details at www.leedsowltrail.com, where they also ask for any information about owls that they may have missed off to be emailed to [email protected]. Come on people uphold your civic duty!! I would not hold out much hope claireblue of the Leeds Owl Trail folk taking any real interest in reports of owls. See my post on 29-Apr-2012 21:44:15 on page 5 of this SL thread http://www.secretleeds.co.uk/forum/Mess ... ighLight=1 that relates to a post of mine on page 4 of that thread. The 4 owls (2 on each side) in the Calverley Street entrance of the Central Reference Library still look very neglected and there still seems to be no mention of them in the Owl Trail map and website.

simong · Post by **simong** » Sun 14 Oct, 2012 12:01 am

Leodian wrote: I would not hold out much hope claireblue of the Leeds Owl Trail folk taking any real interest in reports of owls. See my post on 29-Apr-2012 21:44:15 on page 5 of this SL thread http://www.secretleeds.co.uk/forum/Mess ... ighLight=1 that relates to a post of mine on page 4 of that thread. The 4 owls (2 on each side) in the Calverley Street entrance of the Central Reference Library still look very neglected and there still seems to be no mention of them in the Owl Trail map and website. The owl trail is a private project with a bit of backing from the Council, which may not have been renewed this year (not actually sure, but they have been quiet since a bit of activity around the Olympics) and updating the map means republishing the whole thing which involves a new print run of tens of thousands which doesn't seem to have happened as yet.As for the Calverley Street owls, you'd better off letting the council know about their condition directly. You could use FixMyStreet.com for it as it does seem to get to the right places.

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Sun 14 Oct, 2012 12:34 am

Hi simong.The Owl Trail people asked for any owls they appearently did not know about yet were not interested when I informed them of the 4 just in the library. As the Owl Trail folk would have far more influence than I would I did not (and do not intend to) contact the council about their neglected state. To avoid any confusion those 4 owls are not on Calverley Street and so are not part of the well known line of those owls (one of which sadly went 'missing' several months back).

claireblue · Post by **claireblue** » Sun 14 Oct, 2012 1:04 am

[quotenick="simong"] Leodian wrote: The owl trail is a private project with a bit of backing from the Council, which may not have been renewed this year (not actually sure, but they have been quiet since a bit of activity around the Olympics) and updating the map means republishing the whole thing which involves a new print run of tens of thousands which doesn't seem to have happened as yet. I just assumed it was an arty council venture, looking further on their website, of the 5 packages offered I fancy the 'Professional Development and Team Building Course Owl Trail'. (Book early for a 15% discount...) 'good luck to them' I say if they can employ what looks like a good few people in these times! Had not seen the other posts Leodian sorry better search skills needed. x

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Sun 14 Oct, 2012 12:15 pm

Hi clairblueI had also thought the Leeds Owl Trail was a Leeds Council or Tourist Information thing and was surprised that it may be a commercial venture. I regularly see people wandering around with their owl map and it seems to be quite successful. If the people are close-by the library when I see them I mention the 4 owls just inside the Calverley Street entrance to them, as those owls are not readily seen from the street. PS. My internet searching skills are next to rubbish! On looking for/checking for information for a SL thread I often do a search and get tens/hundreds of thousands of results and when I mention it to the excellent folk on SL there is often a response in moments giving exactly what I was after!

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Thu 21 Mar, 2013 7:13 pm

There is now a new owl to spot. This photo (which I took today, March 21 2013) shows an owl (well I think it is an owl) high up in the newly opened Leeds Trinity centre. The owl was I suspect not seen by many (if not most) of the people there and I pointed it out to some who were taking photos and most seemed pleased that I did.

anthonydna · Post by **anthonydna** » Thu 21 Mar, 2013 8:30 pm

They should animate it, that would be a wise move.

Tasa · Post by **Tasa** » Thu 21 Mar, 2013 11:21 pm

I like your photo Leodian I wonder how many people will notice the owl without being told it's there?I didn't venture into the shopping centre today but the new Briggate statue (Minerva) has owl eyes above the head (click on the image in this link to enlarge the photo):http://www.urbanrealm.com/news/4070/And ... tmlMinerva was the goddess of wisdom, among other things, so I think that's a nice recognition of the importance of the owl to Leeds The Leeds Owl Trail leaflet will need a substantial edit, particularly as some new (or actually very old - probably the oldest surviving in Leeds) owls were discovered in St John's Church in Upper Briggate during the restoration. Some are in the stained glass and one is carved, dating from when the church was built in 1634.

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Thu 21 Mar, 2013 11:40 pm

Hi Tasa. I did not get an image through your link, just links to things relating to the item. I however took this photo today of the statue and the owl can be seen on Minerva's head. On her right hand are what seems to be 3 stars and when I was looking at this artwork a few days back a lady was also looking and she spotted the owl which I had not and she also spotted the 3 stars which she thought might be a reference to 3 as Trinity means three.