Catching up!

A quick catch up from last weekend & Monday night.......

The male Barn Owl continues to come for the "free offerings" at the box cam sight. The hen owl now sits tight on 5 eggs, we were hoping for six but I don't think that is going to happen as it has now past the expected laying of an egg every other day!

Over at the village of Leire the male Little Owl at my site No 188 was located out patrolling the perimeter of his territory.

At times the light levels were excellent which allowed for higher shutter speeds that then enabled the capture of this flight shot.

At site No 91 the Little Owls were distant (below), but it was good news as the resident pair are still holding their territory and still using the box that that I put up for them which they have so far successfully raised two broods. 

On a more sour note, the local land owner informed me that the two Barn Owl boxes that I have made and erected at this site don't look like they will be used this year? He found a dead Barn Owl on the side of the road, a casualty of a collision with a car!

The Little Owls at site No 14 took some finding, but they are still there! They have re-located to a new nest site across the other side of the field. Only the male owl was seen (image below) so I now suspect that the egg laying has started? 

A couple of new sites have also been located recently.

Site 206 near to the village of Hallaton was located a week or so ago although I forgot to mention it!

This was a double referral site from Dick Jones, a local birder and "Mr T" (John Turner) who both kindly informed me of a Little Owl sighting whilst they were watching over a Short Eared Owl site, thanks guys.

So at the earliest opportunity I went to have a look for myself, the owls were easily located, just where I was told they would be! Sadly no images as they were too far away, but I am sure it won't be long before I capture a picture or two of them as they are now high up on my list of sites to re-visit? 

New Little Owl site No 207 has also been tracked down, thanks must go again to "Mr T" who pointed me in the right direction. A pair are in residence here too and they didn't take much finding! I was surveying the general area and a single Ash Tree in the corner of the field captured my attention. It was situated near a small carrel type area with some nice posts and an adjoining hedgerow.

  

This was the closest view (below) during the time spent there, poor light and rain didn't help in getting a decent image, nice posture though.