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, 3 February 2013

Gilmorton Barn Owls

Late last night (11.30pm) whilst on my way home from a birthday bash I chanced upon yet another new Barn Owl site. We were driving along the country lanes not far from Gilmorton and whoosh, it flew straight across in front of us. Brilliant views were had for about 2 seconds as it was lit up in the car headlights.

So this evening I re-visited the same location to see if it could be re-located, I was in situ just before dusk and as the light faded so did my luck, sadly I didn't see it! But whilst in the Gilmorton area I decided to check out another of my boxes that I have in a barn. And as I entered the barn out flew a Barnie!!!! The chances of it being the same owl as last night are very slim indeed because there must be a distance of 2 miles between them. The owl then gave brilliant views in the car headlights as it hunted up and down alongside the road verge.
 
 
As can be seen on my "owlometer" on the right hand side of my blog the numbers are really starting to mount up, I have now made 12 different Barn Owl sighting across 11 different sites in south Leicestershire and we are only 5 weeks in to the new year.........yeah bring em on!!! 
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8 comments:

  1. kiekismichel3 February 2013 at 23:09

    beautiful photo, maybe I can also make such a beautiful picture this summer in an abandoned barn at a local fbeautiful photoarmer.
    If you have any tips or tricks I have recommended !?

    Greetings Michel

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    Replies
    1. Paul Riddle4 February 2013 at 08:16

      The best tip I can give is to put the time in, stay out of sight and keep very quiet Michel.
      Thnaks for your comments and good luck!

      Delete
  2. SusieB4 February 2013 at 18:52

    Lovely shot, what a wonderful siting!

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  3. Bobbster4 February 2013 at 19:48

    Great image the light really looks good on the birds plumage

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  4. Douglas Mcfarlane5 February 2013 at 20:41

    Great stuff on the owlometer well done, great image too, I would've been tempted to have cropped it so the bottom of the frame is a fraction below the second brick the owl is stood on, eliminating the beam/brick in background and give a jet black background against the barnie white, just a personal taste thing Paul and not trying to detract from the image as it's a cracker as is.

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  5. Richard Pegler5 February 2013 at 21:25

    Brilliant work on the Barnie front Paul, with well-deserved results. I love that image, but Doug may well be right - I'm glad he said it first ;-}

    ReplyDelete

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