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!!!

Friday, 17 September 2010

Awsome Foursome!!

 I was out working in the north east area of Leicestershire today, and whilst in between customer visits I stopped off near to Burrough Hill to check out my site No 95.

I pulled up near the nest tree and peered over the hedgerow, a single Little Owl was located sitting on a broken tree limb that was resting on top of the hedgerow. I was too far away for images so I decided to get a little nearer by making my way along a nearby footpath that worked its way back towards the owl. I got within 25 yards or so and sat down on the grass, luckily the owl hadn't moved although he was getting twitchy by my presence. 

Owl No 1


I sat quiet for around 15 minutes waiting for owl No 1 to do something worth taking a photo of when I spotted a movement in the adjacent tree, a second owl!!!!

Owl No 2 remained partially hidden behind the tree trunk.


Crikey, then from absolutely nowhere a third owl landed on a fence post just to the right of the first owl, which incidentally was still on its hedgerow log!

Owl No 3.


All 3 of them remained still but very alert on their respective perches not taking their piercing eyes off me. It then got bloody ridiculous........a fourth bird showed!!!!!! It appeared just as the 3rd one did, from nowhere! This bird landed low down on a wooden fence in between birds 1 & 3. It was quite a surreal experience sitting there having four pairs of eyes staring at me, it was like a stand off!

Owl No 4.


I weakened and made the first move, I wanted to get nearer to improve on my images. As I did all four birds took flight and disappeared high up in the nest tree,  dam and blast, I'd blew it!!

I sat back down in my slightly nearer position, and waited........

After a while a single owl dropped down from its lofty position and a much improved image was attained. Hopefully the others would follow?

The "drop down" owl, a little closer.


After another 5 minutes of waiting I couldn't stand it any longer, I had to move, it was just too uncomfortable as I can't sit crossed legged like I could when I was a kid! I then tried to shuffled around into a more appropriate position without disturbing the owls..... aaaaarhhhhh, I'd put my hand straight into the middle of a cow pat, a crusty topped one with a slimy stinky centre!! My left hand was covered in SH#T, obviously with all the blaspheming and hand wiping on the grass the owls had long departed, no doubt they were all having a good laugh at my expense........!!

4 comments:

  1. Great site. Love Owls. Amazing concentration in your area. Very scarce around here.
    www.duffbirder.blogspot.com

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  2. Hi mate, great new images. I will send you a email sometime over the weekend. It will be nice to catch up with each other.

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  3. Thanks for the comments guys, look forward from hearing from you BTP!

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  4. I just love that last image, Paul! The 'long-legged' look of the middle image is great - I've yet to get an image of a LO in this sort of pose.

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