owls about that then!: Two out two in!

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!!!

Tuesday, 17 August 2010

Two out two in!

A very early start to work today, I decided to take my camera with me just in case............

At around 6.30am I drove by site No 16 and a brace of owls were showing, after further inspection both the owls were confirmed to be adults, sadly still no evidence of any offspring so far this year. Never the less, it was still good to see them as this was the first sighting of both birds at the same time for a good few months.

I only managed an image of one of the owls, pretty poor quality though as it was taken from a considerable distance in poor light.

On my return journey I stopped off at around 5.30pm at site No 97 near to Wistow, here I encountered a pair of juveniles sitting out on the outer limbs of the nest tree, and in reasonable light conditions, too good a chance to miss!!!

A much better quality image of a pair of very amenable Little Owls!