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!!!

Tuesday, 1 March 2011

And then there was two!

Whilst making my way home this evening Little Owl site No 158 was located in the eastern part of Leicestershire. It was located in between the villages of Great Eastern and Horninghold  sitting in a roadside tree.

A very obliging bird that held its ground for a few seconds as I snapped away, the light levels were atrocious but after I'd bumped the ISO up to 1600 I managed this acceptable but "noisy" image.


Not wanted to expose itself for too long it soon disappeared out of sight higher up in the tree, after a wait of a couple of minutes it returned to the same branch, a not so pleasing image to the eye though with that horrid background!


Then to my utter amazement a second bird appeared from nowhere, they seemed very relaxed with my presence and just huddled up together with just the occasional glance around.


It wasn't until I was reviewing the images when I got home that I realised the first owl that disappeared and then returned was in fact two different birds!! Take a look at the head patterns, I'm sure you will agree?

1 comment:

  1. Well done mate! Reckon you're right - bird in first image = bird on right, bird in second image = bird on left

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