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 7 November 2010

A Blast From The Past!

Due to just having a busy life and the clocks changing recently getting "owl 'n' about" this last week has proved a bit difficult. Therefore I have decided to upload a few of my Little Owl images taken from before this blog was started. Nothing particular impressive but just a small selection from my 1,000's of Little Owl images.

A juvenile from a site 31, very local to where I live, very confiding bird.


Getting a decent flight image has proved extremely difficult, this I suppose is one of my "better" attempts from site No 19.


An adult owl out hunting for its hungry brood, a morsel of a Caterpillar can just be made out in its beak.


Another "flighty" shot, a shame the sun was in the wrong direction!


Another very confiding juvenile, it is sometimes amazing just how close they will let you get!


I just found this image a little comical, the Little Owl will make use of almost anything for a perch!

    
And finally one of my very favourite images, this was the first really close up view I had from my mobile hide.


Hopefully my commitments will ease slightly over the next week allowing me to get back out there and find whats being going on!

7 comments:

  1. Nice selection of images, Paul. Must be very frustrating for you, not getting out amongst your 'flock'! Spent four hours visiting four of my sites yesterday - nothing! - although one farmer (my site No.9) told me that he'd seen an owl earlier but disturbed it from the nest tree by ploughing next to it! Mind you, it'd have been very frustrating if I'd had a photo opportunity as my lens is still at Nikon, waiting for the insurance people to sort out what they're going to do about it - unlikely to get it back inside the next 10 days, I guess.

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  2. Great range of images. I'd be happy just to see it.

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  3. Richard; yes its frustrating not getting out and when I do there is hardly no light left, but......I have just taken delivery of a 10 million candle power torch so at least i'll still be able to monitor the owls even though I won't be able to photograph them!!!!!

    Frank; Thanks for your comments,I didn't think there were any little Owls to see around where I live in Leicestershire, but it just shows what I knew!!!!!

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  4. Real Trif! Your blog's got " a nice feel" about it - and the birds are special, too.

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  5. Errol; thanks for your kind comments, I hope you pop back again.

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  6. Rid, that top picture is a real LOL Owl, great stuff. Good luck with the calendar.

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