The RSPB are closely watching the Western Isles of Scotland hoping for a happy ending to what has been a seven-year-long tale that could rival Hollywood’s best romantic tearjerkers.

A lone male snowy owl has been spotted each of the last seven years wandering the islands of Scotland in search of a mate.

His quest has taken him all around the islands, including visits to North Uist, Lewis, Harris and even remote St Kilda, but sadly all to no avail.

From his plumage and visits, local RSPB Scotland staff can ascertain he is the same bird and has been without a mate for years now.

He was identified as male when his white feathers lost some of the black flecking more commonly recorded in younger snowy owls.

Hopes were raised in 2008 when the bird was joined by another wandering snowy owl, but dreams of a happy ending were dashed when it emerged it too was male.

With minimal human disturbance, the Western Isles would be an ideal site for the birds to breed as they have a plentiful supply of rabbits and lots of open moorland and rocky landscapes.

Snowy owls are more often found in north America or northern Europe, but occasionally some wandering birds find their way to our shores.

But no snowy owl has bred in Britain since 1975. There have been similar sporadic sightings in the past, ironically in 1976 it was the male snowy owls that failed to show up and again in 1993 two females summered on the island of Fetlar but no male joined them.

RSPB Scotland conservation officer Martin Scott hopes that eventually the old adage will hold true and that good things do come to those who wait:

“With lying snow, he has gone unreported for a couple of months, but is now back visiting his old haunts. We are monitoring his movements but, in reality, all we can do is keep our fingers crossed that he will find another wandering bird, and this time it will be female.”

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