Got invited over to Barwell tonight by my mate Tony to investigate a potential little owl site he thinks he has located. Unfortunately no owls were seen but I must admit the site looks very owly. We then moved on to another site I wanted to show Tony that i thought would be idea for his digi-scope set up. We had only been there 10 minutes when the male owl showed in the nest tree, although distant Tony managed some really good images with his scope set on 30 x magnification.
Whilst Tony was busy taking more images I started to scan a row of willow trees in the opposite direction, I located a little owl sitting very low down on the right hand side of the main trunk. Was this a new site???? I couldn't be sure as it was quite close to the one we were already watching. But my suspicions were soon confirmed when a second owl appeared in the nest tree at the first site that Tony was still watching. BINGO come on in new site 106!!!!!
Site 106 - Church Spinney - Kirkby Mallory
Soon after I made my way back home to pick up the landrover as there was a couple of sites that I wanted to visit that I hadn't been to for a while. My first stop off was a site at Narborough, here the male bird show really well but the shadows under the trees didn't help with the photography.
Site 51 - Flash Farm - Narborough
Next stop was a site over at Gilmorton, again the male bird showed nicely but he would just not come down from his high perch for some better images.
Site 92 - Holt Farm - Gilmorton
The sun was just starting to set so it was time to quickly move on to "owl avenue" I was hoping the barn owls would show again as they did a couple of nights ago. Just as I pulled off there was this horrid rumbling noise! I was full of dread as I knew what it was...........A PUNCTURE!!!!!!! Bloody hell, it was nearly dark and I was in the middle of nowhere. Luckily all the necessary tools were on board (although I had not previously checked they were there!). Whilst I was busily sorting out the spare a guy came by and stopped. He was a mechanic from the local village and he very kindly helped with getting the wheel changed.....what a gent he was!
By now it was too dark to see the barn owls, so home was the only choice. Normally I would have turned right at the bottom of the lane but I turned left as it would be the quicker way home. And what a good gob I did, 400 yards down the lane guess what I chanced upon?.........yep you guessed it, a little owl!!!! He was in a roadside tree balancing on an outer branch overhanging the road, it would have been impossible to miss him!!. They say every cloud has a silver lining and tonight mine was in the form of little owl site No 107, obviously it was too dark for any images, guess where I will be going over the weekend......?
" . . . . . . guess where I will be going over the weekend......? "
ReplyDeleteErm, maybe to The Tyre Shop to get a fresh one . . . ? ;-)
Well done with yet another discovery. :-)