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, 21 August 2011

Bird On A Wire!

This afternoon I visited a local Little Owl site near to Willoughby, my intention was to hopefully see some juveniles and photograph them before they start to disperse.

I'd been parked up around and an hour and no images were possible, the owls were there all right because I could see them through the hedgerow, there was at least three of them and they were sheltering out of the breeze on some fence posts!!

My patience finally ran out and I went to see the landowner of the field where the owls were. Pemission was soon granted for access (thank you!), I adopted a very slow approach as I didn't want to spook the owls! My cagey tactics finally paid off as I'd got into a position where I wasn't too far from where the owls were. It was now a waiting game and over the next four hours they came pretty close at times.  

Juvenile No 1


Juvenile No 2 & Dad


Juvenile No 3



Juvenile No 4


A balancing act and on one foot.....what a show off!


Just goes to show that the grass can be greener on the other side of the fence, well this time it was anyway!

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