By Elizabeth Hunter

An owl has been saved from a North Sea oil rig after being blown nearly 200 miles off course by storm winds.

The short-eared owl had been blown off-course by 100mph gusts while she was attempting to migrate to winter feeding grounds from her home in Scandinavia.

Offshore worker Sam Crowe spotted the owl on board the North Sea drilling rig Noble Patriot, 180 miles north east of the Scottish islands, last Thursday after Storm Amy.

He kept the exhausted bird warm and fed it raw chicken until it could be flown by helicopter to Shetland’s Sumburgh airport.

It was then picked up by Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary staff and taken to the local vet.

Tired and weak, the owl , which the oil workers had called Oli, was examined by vet nurse Lisa Trueman and found to be uni

See Full Page