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 14 August 2011

Chomping at the bit!

Got out tonight for a couple of hours and how I enjoyed it! Over the last two weeks I'd missed my owls  and as this evenings late setting sun offered a glorious glow what better excuse could I ask for than to get out and see some owls, and of course try out my new camera!

This is my very first published image with the new Canon 7D, it just had to be of a Little Owl didn't it? The controls and settings are so different to that of my old 40D camera it is going to take me a while to master it, but I don't think my first effort is too bad? I have cropped this image far more than I would ever dare do with the old 40D, one of the beauties of having nearly twice a many pixels to play with.

The owl was located at my site No 87 near to Willoughby Waterleys, it was perched up on top of an old manure pile. The back drop of the sun shining on a tree trunk gave an unusual golden and warm feeling to the image.


Another feature that the 7D has is the ability to record movie footage, (click on the arrow to play) this is my first attempt and yes it is shaky, slightly out of focus and out of synchronisation, but hey give me a chance!!

Here is the same owl as above calling back to his mate.


Not sure I will do a lot of movie footage, but it's a nice to have should the situation arise.

6 comments:

  1. money well spent by the look of it

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  2. Normal service rusumed then mate

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  3. You may find you need to use mono/ tripod for video recording.

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  4. Cheers for all your comments and advice guys.

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  5. Looks like the right tool for the right job,with superb results.
    Just love your Header,amazing image.
    john

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