owls about that then!: Up Close And Very Personal.

Hi and welcome to my Blog, my name is Paul Riddle and I live in south Leicestershire, UK. Back in August 2007 my quest began to locate as many local Little Owl territories as possible. The driving force was a reported decline in the uk numbers so I thought I would do my bit and conduct a study in my area. After 7 years and countless hours out in the field I have detected over 200 different sites. With a thirst for a greater understanding of the owls a more comprehensive monitoring and nest box programme then commenced. This also now includes monitoring the local and very sparse population of Barn Owls, please pop back occasionally and catch up with the life and times of my owls and any other wildlife that I come across. I hope you enjoy your visit!!!

Thursday, 11 February 2010

Up Close And Very Personal.

As soon as I got home from work on Wednesday I quickly got changed, grabbed my camera and in no time was off out again ..........although very cold the light levels were fantastic, best it had been at this time of day for sometime. Hopefully I could locate an obliging owl or two squeezing what little warmth they could muster from the sun before it set.

Lydon Lodge, location No 19 a private site over at Fleckney was my chosen destination, one of my favourite little owl locations and I hadn't been there for sometime.

On occasions this site can produce some really close views.........and as it proved this was one of those days!

After a ten minute wait both birds appeared at the nest entrance.

Enjoying the last remaining rays before sunset.

It wasn't long before the 1st bird was out on its favourite vantage point.

Closely followed by the second onto it's favourite perch.

After a good ten minutes of really close up views and plenty of territorial calling they both moved off along the hedgerow in search of an evening meal. I was really chuffed with the images I managed, the 1st ones of the birds from this site on my blog.