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, 8 October 2010

Moving Back In!

I have now collated a monthly list of all my sightings by site No's and it is helping me to easily identify where my searches should be focused in order not to overlook any particular site and to keep tabs on previous sightings.

What became apparent after studying at the chart was the lack of sightings at 5 local sites that are all clustered together near to Lubbesthorpe, nothing at 3 of them since March (No's 25, 29 & 86), 1 since May (No 88) and (No 26) none at all this year!! So once I was armed with this info it helped me decide where I went last night.........Lubbesthorpe.

Monthly sighting chart, double click for larger view.


Unfortunately no owls were either seen or heard at 3 of the sites but the good news is 2 of them did produced owls, at site No 88 1 bird was seen flying between two trees (too distant for an image) and also 1 bird at site No 29. This was a particular nice observation because when I went to check the nest site out back in the breeding season I had a shock as it contained 4 Jackdaw eggs!!!! The Jackdaws have since gone and the Little Owls are back..........a welcome return!!!!

Little Owl No 29, perched on top of the nest entrance.

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