“Owl with nine lives” returns to Inglis Street after three months as Inverness pub mascot
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An Inverness owl statue whose sudden disappearance sparked a search last December has now returned to watch over Inglis street – after spending three months in a local pub.
The Eagle owl statue which usually sits on top of 15 Inglis Street – now occupied by RW Bell Green Energy – was included in a popular city centre trail created by local publisher AbleKids Press.
After “disappearing” in December, the owl has now been placed back to its former location.
Pauline Mackay, AbleKids Press founder and author of Wild About Inverness book and trail, explained: “Since the eagle owl statue on Inglis Street became part of the Wild About Inverness city centre trail in 2021, it has been removed twice.
“Due to the kindness of the different business owners, who came to realise how much of a feature of Inverness that owl had become, the statue has been returned twice. It is the only owl on the trail and locals and visitors alike really love spotting it.
“Hopefully, it will now be regarded as an Inverness fixture and continue to gaze down on us for a long time to come!”
She said she called it the “owl with ni
It then turned out that the owl had been watching over pubgoers from a shelf at Phoenix Ale House.
“It was lovely to have it here, even just for a few months,” said bar manager Sarah McFarlane.
“The owner of the premises where it was stored asked if we could keep it for a while during renovation works. He didn’t want the statue to be lost or damaged.
“It was a real talking point in the bar, we even gave him a nickname: ‘Hoot’.
“We are happy he is back where everyone can spot him – but we already miss him a bit!”
