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!!!

Sunday, 19 September 2010

Watching The World Go By.

Its been ages since I did some "normal" birding so with that thought in mind I decided to pop over to "Rids Patch" late this afternoon so see if anything interesting had dropped in. Upon approaching the first scrape I managed 2 new site ticks in the form of a Black Headed Gull & Lesser Black Backed Gull, common birds I know but the first sightings I have made since I set myself the challenge of seeing 75 different species in 12 months.

2 new Gulls for the patch.


Although a very poor image it was a pleasing sight to see 12 Snipe busily feeding on the second scrape. They did however have to keep dodging the presence of a low fly over Buzzard who scattered them on two occasions.

Feeding Snipe


Nothing much more of note was seen apart from another 2 patch ticks in the form of Collard Dove & Wren taking my overall tally to 72. At this rate it shouldn't be too difficult to reach my target of 75 as long as I don't leave it so long until my next visit!

On the way home I stopped off at Gilmorton and caught with some Little Owls that I hadn't seen for quite sometime. At site No 107 a single bird was sitting out on a haystack just watching the world go by!




I then did a drive by at site No 92 and this juvenile was posing nicely near the entrance to the nest hole.


Also finished making the final 7 Little Owl nest boxes this morning, but I'm holding back on painting them until my "colour poll" has finished, (top right of this blog) if you haven't yet voted please do so by clicking on your preference and then click on the vote button.............thanks.
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3 comments:

  1. East Kent Kingfishers20 September 2010 at 20:10

    Hi Paul,

    just found your blog - fantastic work you're doing and really good of you to document it on your blog. I've become a Little Owl addict having found some good local spots for them so seeing your superb photos of the cracking birds is superb.

    Good luck with your project; I hope your local Little Owls know how lucky they are :)

    Cheers,
    Rob

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  2. Paul Riddle20 September 2010 at 20:22

    Cheers for your comments Mark (or should that be Toffee?). You say you have become a Little Owl addict, hey nothing wrong in that! You say you have owls local to you, where abouts is that if you don't mind me asking?

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  3. East Kent Kingfishers21 September 2010 at 21:01

    Hi Paul/Rid,

    no problem - I'm in Kent.

    Cheers,
    Rob the Toffee (but you can call me Mark if you like :) )

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