One of Plympton’s best loved and most easily recognisable members of the local community has died. Known by many simply as ‘The Owl Man’, Russell Burt passed away at Elburton Heights Care Home in January aged 88.
Born in Cornwall he later moved to Yealmpton and subsequently to Plympton. Russ developed an interest in birds, initially with canaries, but it was owls that caused him to become such a well-known figure in the community, cementing his place as the Plympton Owl Man.
He grew his collection after he retired and he would often be seen walking around Plympton or sitting in St Stephen’s Place with one or more owls on his shoulders.
He would often bring his collection of owls to venues such as the Plym Valley Railway, the Yealmpton Show and the Colebrook Carnival where members of the public would be photographed with the owls to raise money for charity. He would also take his owls into care homes for residents to see.
A quiet and mild-mannered man, Russ would be quite content when walking around Plympton or sitting in Ridgeway with his owls to chat to enquiring members of the public and families with children coming over to look at his birds.
Plympton Owl Man Controversy
These mutually joyful encounters however took an unexpected turn in 2010 after someone apparently complained, wrongly as it turned out, that owls should not be taken out in daylight.
This was the catalyst for Plymouth City Council to take an active interest in the matter and curiously they dispatched their dog warden to investigate.
So one day the dog warden rocked up in his van to seek to get Russ to desist from walking around Plympton with owls on his shoulder. Little could that dog warden have imagined that these actions would create a hornets’ nest of controversy which would reverberate across the world.
In a statement issued shortly after the dog warden’s visit, the council said:
“We spoke to Mr Burt about travelling along busy roads with his pets as, in the wild, owls live a nocturnal lifestyle and we are concerned about welfare issues around exposing it to loud and hectic environments.
“There are also safety issues for the public around a large spooked bird of prey running amok on a highway.
“We are more than happy for him to continue showing the animal in controlled environments such as schools and care homes, but to protect him, his pet and the public we have asked that he finds alternative forms of transportation.”
While he strongly disagreed with the council’s comments about the welfare impact on his birds and the safety issues it was claimed they presented, Russ initially complied and stopped walking about with his owls.
However, the residents of Plympton were having none of this ‘elf and safety gone mad’ and a petition was started calling for him to be allowed to carry on walking around with his feathered friends.
Soon media organisations outside of Plymouth were getting wind of the controversy and a number of national newspapers carried stories about the debacle. News of the matter spread outside the UK and soon the foreign press was in hot pursuit of the story, with news coverage of the matter spreading as far as New Zealand.
It eventually took the intervention of the then council leader Vivien Pengelly to restore a sense of calm.
Mrs Pengelly took the line that the council had simply ‘offered advice’ and had not banned Mr Burt from walking in public with an owl. The upshot was that he was free to ignore this advice and carry on taking daily exercise with owls on his shoulder.
And so for the best part of another 14 years the townsfolk of Plympton were able to carry on enjoying the spectacle of the Plympton Owl man out and about in the town with his feathered friends. In latter years as frailty started to catch up with him Russ scaled down his collection to just one bird – Kermit, a frogmouth rather than an owl and Russ would be seen riding his motorised disabled scooter around the area with Kermit on his shoulder.
Many tributes have been paid on social media as people became aware that Russ had passed away. Brenda Rowe said:
“I’d spend hours on the Ridgeway with him and his birds. He was an amazing man who opened up his love for birds with me and allowed me to help him take his owls up to Dawlish Warren Care Home, Otter Nursery and Barne Barton fun day. He’s going to be sorely missed.”
Shirley Gamble added:
“Russ was a lovely chap who always had time for everyone.”
Sarah Ball recalled:
“He was a lovely man, made my daughter laugh so much when she was little when he asked if he could put Kermit on my shoulder whilst feeding the ducks at Saltram.
Of course I said yes; she thought it was hilarious and talked about it for the rest of the day.”
Amanda Mair reflected:
“One of the first people I met and spoke with after moving here. I was so excited to meet such an interesting man and live somewhere with proper local characters.”
Russ was indeed a true local character and Plympton is today the poorer for his passing. Russ’s funeral service took place at Plympton St. Mary’s Church on February 19.
(story courtesy of the Plympton Podcast)
