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, 22 October 2010

Sneaking Off!

I've just had a few days in Dorset with the extended family, a great time was had and I even managed to sneak off a couple of times to get a bit of birding in when we went on a couple of day visits.

We visited Portland Bill and whilst everyone else went for a coffee in the local cafe I took the opportunity to have a walk around the lighthouse, here I chanced upon a small flock of Rock Pipits, my best ever views of these very confiding little birds.

Rock Pipits



We also visited the New Forest to see the Ponies (boring!!!!!) but whilst the kids enjoyed them I sloped off for a while and managed to eventually get reasonably close to a Meadow Pipit, after trying for a good 30 minutes! A good number of Dartford Warblers were also seen, a nightmare to get near to let alone photograph!

Meadow Pipit


A visit to Swanage was also a nice day out, again I made some excuse to get sometime to myself and whilst walking around a local public park I located this distant Buzzard..........eating a frog!


It was a nice to get away for a few days even though not a lot was seen on the birding front, but its good to be back in Leicestershire, can't wait to get out this weekend and do some more owling!
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1 comment:

  1. Ben the plumber27 October 2010 at 17:46

    Hope you enjoyed your break mate, I love the Buzzard eating the frog!

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