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!!!

Thursday, 14 July 2011

Lap of the gods!

I re-visited my site 47 last night, this is where the recovering juvenile was set free after 2 weeks of nursing (see previous post). It appears that on it's first night of freedom it took flight into the darkness only to be rediscovered the next morning sitting on the floor near the farmhouse!

It was collected up and re-positioned in the upturned washing basket and left all day to watch the world go by. It fed well, two bowls of mashed up dog food and fresh rabbit (along with the fir) where soon consumed. Around 10.00pm the basket was again lifted at one end so it could venture out, by morning it had gone and hasn't been seen since! Another bowl of food has been left out at the release site just in case it returns again, its now in the lap of the gods to how it fairs, if I get any more news of it I will let you know.

Whilst there last night the male owl was again tracked down, I managed a couple of images of him (below) near to his nest site before he got bored of me and flew off!



Posted by at

1 comment:

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)