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!!!

Saturday, 17 March 2012

Shafted!

It was just going to be a normal Saturday morning of late, more owl boxes required putting up, so myself and my 10 year old son Joe went over in the Landrover to pick up Col. En route to our first location there was a massive bang from underneath the Landrover!!!???

Oh my god what was that????

After pulling over as safely as possible (with no brakes!!) the underneath was examined, there was fluid leaking out onto the road from all over the place. Dam and blast the prop shaft had snapped, in doing so it had ripped out all the electric wiring to the rear and severed the brake pipes. This Landrover was going nowhere! Stranded about 10 miles from home there was only one option, ring for breakdown assistance.

A lonely sad sight (below), my beloved Landrover dead at the scene of the incident.


Colin looking out for the breakdown lorry, "I still can't see them mate!"


To be honest we only had to wait around an hour before the breakdown guy arrived.


All aboard, all loaded up off we went to the repair garage.


I am now awaiting an estimation for the cost of the repairs, there is a good chance that it may not be worth getting it back on the road and could well be scrapped! So this could have been my last trip out in my trusty mobile hide/owl box veichle, if so it is going to be sadly missed........


 

5 comments:

  1. Could have been a lot worse mate,lets hope the little green beast is'nt to badly hurt.

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  2. As Col says, i't could have been a lot worse - let's hope it's just your pocket that suffers, and that she's back on the road soon! Best of luck, Paul

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  3. Paul, i use to own a landrover defender and found that the parts for these workhorses are pretty cheap, and are usaly very easy to fit. Would be worth checking out this landrover spares site that are based near Matlock Derbys www.paddockspares.com Hope you get back on the road soon. best of luck paul

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    1. Cheers for that Rob, I'll check them out. I'm well up for saving a bob ot two!

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