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, 15 September 2011

NOT OWLS!!!

Now the horrid gales have abated and the sun has started to put an appearance in I was hoping that some of my owls would be coming out of hiding? Therefore this evening I opted to visit some owl sites over near the village of Arnesby, an area that has been very "scrooge like" just recently!

En-route I couldn't help but notice a mass of bird activity in a roadside field (no not owls!), the sheer numbers got me interested.......just what were they? I pulled up in a gateway and locked the binoculars onto them, Yellow Wagtails & Meadow Pipits, I suspect they were having a feeding pit stop before continuing on their southerly migration? It was difficult to establish the numbers as they were constantly being flushed by a pair of  Sparrowhawks!! A rough estimate was at least 75 Yellow Wags (wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't double that!) and at least a couple of hundred Meadow Pipits.........nice hey!

From the gate I managed to attain an image of both species, (below). However I failed miserably with the hunting shot of the hawk, far too fast for me!

Yellow Wagtail


Meadow Pipit


Anyway, after that excitement I continued on my way, and yes I did eventually see some owls and surprise surprise here are some of the images!








5 comments:

  1. Great series again. The last one of the pair is lovely and the second owl picture is hilarious and fantastic in equal measure!

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  2. Super blog, Paul. This has to be the best place on the web for Little Owls, excellent work.

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  3. Cheers for your comments guys, glad you enjoy....

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  4. What an amazing sight the wags and mipits must have been! I agree with Christian - super set of images, the second owl image is really comical and a great image too, and the pair at the end are just delightful. Keep up the good work!!!

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  5. Great Shots again mate,thanks for Saturday Paul it was brilliant getting some great images of them very confiding Owls cheers if I get half as good as you mate I'll be happy

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