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, 22 March 2011

Dramatic!

On the way home today after working in Manchester I opted to stop off at a Little Owl site I located a few months ago near to the village of Flash in Staffordshire. As they were showing in the same area again this must be their territory, so even though they are not in Leicestershire I have decided to add them to my growing list of Little Owl sites and they will become site No 160. .

This site is so different to any I have in my local area, it is unbelievable remote with loads of rough ditches, small streams and rocky outcrops, and would you believe there isn't a tree in site! It offers some really different and interesting photo opportunities, I just love the dry stone walls that seem to go on for miles and miles and the owls just seem to relish perching on them.  They are a lovely feature with loads of character that would certainly complements any image with Little Owls in it. We just don't have this type of wall in and around south Leicestershire so I hung around waiting for the moment......And it eventually came with the added bonus that both of the resident owls posed together.....what luck!

In order to create a different type of image altogether and to show off better the raggedness features in the stone I opted to have a first ever attempt at processing an image in a monochrome style. 

New Site No 160. 


I think it works.......even dramatic maybe, hope you like it as much as I do?

UPDATE!!!

I posted the above image onto the Birdguides website and  Phil Manning  asked if it was possible to see the colour version of the monochrome Little Owls, so here it is..... 

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6 comments:

  1. Skev22 March 2011 at 21:01

    Great shot - desaturated colour works perfectly for this one.

    We've got plenty of dry stone walls around Charnwood - just not with owls sitting on them!

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  2. Ben the plumber22 March 2011 at 22:53

    Brilliant image mate!!

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  3. Sugar Butter Baby22 March 2011 at 23:40

    drama is a good thing in this image!

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  4. Richard Pegler23 March 2011 at 08:31

    Yep - The monochrome image definitely has the edge!! It's absolutely beautiful,Paul - one to be framed and hung.

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  5. colin24 March 2011 at 20:37

    Stunning mate............

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  6. Paul Riddle25 March 2011 at 06:26

    Cheers all, think I may do a few more in this style in the future.

    ReplyDelete

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