A Day With The Plumber

Whoopee a couple of days off work!!!! Today (Tuesday) will be spent doing a bit of crimbo shopping and DIY.....brilliant!!!! But yesterday was my day and I was going to do what I wanted! Owling was of course on the agenda, but where and with whom?

I have recently been exchanging emails and text messages with an old mate Ben Harrold who I first met a couple of years ago whilst out at a Short Eared Owl site in Northamptonshire. Ben, or......."Ben The Plumber" as he is better known to his birding circles friends is renowned for his excellent images he regular posts on Birdguides.  

Ben has been asking for a while now if he could accompany me during one of my days out "Owling" to see if he could improve on his own owl images. Now as I was off work yesterday it was the perfect opportunity for us to catch up and hopefully see some owls, there was only one snag......he was car less! Unperturbed I offered to go over and pick him up and then take him out.

The as we drove off from Ben's house we passed a very aptly name public house " The Barn Owl"........the omens looked good!!!

On arriving back at my patch it seemed the lucky omen of earlier seemed to be going against us, the weather was abysmal, foggy, rainy and very cold......not good for seeing owls!

However, during the day we went from site to site and eventually as the weather improved slightly as did seeing a few owls, Ben did managed a few images of the closer birds.

I only managed to photograph two owls during the day, this one at Whetstone at site No 32, a little distant but good to see as they have been keeping a real low profile just recently.

The second image of the day that I managed was at site No 88 near to Enderby, we had some really close and extended views and I am very pleased with the outcome.

All in all we saw 10 birds at 7 different sites, not a great return but not bad considering the awful conditions. Ben managed a few more images than me and hopefully these will be posted later today (Tuesday Dec 14th). You too can see how Ben's images turned out by logging onto Birdguides and then onto the photo page which is called "IRIS" or take the short cut by following this link..... BIRDGUIDES.

Chilled out owls.

Owl 'n' about again tonight catching up with a few sites that I haven't visited for a while, first stop was site No 6 at Peckleton, a pair were out here and showed well in good light, sadly too distant for good images but it was great to watch them as they went about business looking for grub.

Site No 6, owl No 1 

Site No 6, owl No 2 

A single owl showed well at site No 1, it did absolutely nothing but sit and stare me out, how bizarre!! 

At site No 32 things got very interesting with some super close up views of the resident pair, the first bird to show kept partially hidden behind the main tree trunk, the cheeky little chap! 

Then a second owl showed, this bird emerged from the nest cavity and just sat there staring, it was if it was totally mesmerised by my presence.

It then popped out of the hole and sat on the edge, totally chilled out. What a privilege to be so close, the light could have been better but I wasn't going to waste such a fantastic photo opportunity, I was really pleased with how this image turned out.

The final site of the night near to Peatling Parva didn't offer very good photo opportunities due to the distance involved, hey but who cares when it is another new site! Yes that's right, site No 127!!!!!! I was checking out a very "owly" wind damaged Willow tree and I couldn't believe my luck when I spotted a pair sitting together low down in quite a large hole, the image only shows 1 bird though as by the time I had grabbed the camera 1 had flown off!

 A distant image of the new site/owl.

It's good news for this site though, I introduced myself to the local land owners and they were very hospitable and permission was granted for me to return and hopefully get some better images.......watch this space!

Friday Night.

I'd got an hour spare on Friday night before I was due to go out and have a few beers, do I sit in an watch a bit of TV or do I nip out and check for more fledged little Owl chicks????? The latter won hands down!

Due to the time constraints I had to go to a local site, and one of which I hadn't checked out yet, the chosen location was site No 32 near to Peatling Magna.

I was conscious of how little time I had, but I needn't of worried as the 1st adult owl was soon sighted in the nest tree and it didn't do its usual disappearing act, I wonder why? It didn't appear to really be bothered by my presence, then I realised why, the chicks were out!!!!! And what good fortune, all 3 of them as well. They were all clambering about high up in the tree, obviously the adult bird was keeping a close eye on them ............and me!!!!!

Double click on any image for an enlarged and more detailed version.

Adult No 1 - Keeping a watch out.

The chicks seemed inquisitive and dropped lower into the tree to get a better look at me and the Landrover, this offered some excellent photo opportunities, when they weren't hiding behind the branches and leaves that is.

 Juvenile No 1 - Peek-a-boo!

  

Juvenile 2 - A little more showy.

Juvenile 3 - The shyest!

Juvenile 1 - The bravest and boldest!

Adult No 2 then showed with some food, all hell was then let loose as all three Juveniles scrambled and squawked their way up the tree to be the first for the incoming morsel, chick No 1 was the winner..............surprise, surprise!!!!

I wish all my excursions could be as short and productive as this was, guess I will pay for it when I next go out??

A Day With The Enemy!

Today I was showing Derbyshire birder (and big Derby County supporter.....booooooo) Pete Whewell around a few of my owl sites.  Although the weather seemed to be perfect I struggled to show Pete any birds let alone get near enough for any decent images!! Anyway the day ended up ok in the end as I was able to show him half a dozen birds or so and I think he was happy with the images he managed.

After dropping Pete off I decided I would spend the afternoon (listening to city on the radio........winning again!) and checking out a couple of sites that we didn't get round to visiting in the morning. My luck was in as a pair of little owls showed really well at both sites.

.Site 22, Blaby - Whetstone Gorse Site B

This is the first image of a bird from this location that has graced my blog.

 

Site 32, Peatling magna - Sambury Farm

Site 32, Peatling magna - Sambury Farm

Site 32, Peatling magna - Sambury Farm

A Crazy hour!

After a really poor wet and virtually owl free weekend this evening was crazy hour!!! All the owls must have let the late evening sun go to their heads and decided to show themselves off with aplomb!! I just had time to get around eight different sites before the light beat me and a whopping seven produced the goods.

Site 25, Lubbesthorpe - New House Farm

A really rubbish image that was taken at some considerable distance but take a closer look and what do you see??? Yep thats right a little owl inspecting one of my nest boxes!!!

Next stop was just down the road from the previous site and although I have had plenty of sightings of owls here I have never managed an image before...........until now!!!! Here one of the birds appeared out of the old dovecote and posed for me in the evening sun.

Site 86, Lubbesthorpe - Abbey Farm

The next stop was Crossways Farm at Whetstone but surprisingly no owls were showing there today. Soldiering on the next two locations were at Gorse Fishery sites A & B, both produce good distant views but sadly no images were possible.

Then it was down a back lane to Sambury Farm, a single bird here was making quite a fuss calling out across the meadow, although vocal he wasn't allowing particular good views of himself though! 

Site 32, Peatling Magna - Sambury Farm

By now the light was really going so it was a quick dash over to Peatling where I have two sites that are quite close together. My luck was holding out as both sites yielded views of the resident owls albeit image quality was now suffering due to the really poor light levels.

Site 68, Peatling Magna - Lodge Farm A.

Site 58, Peatling Magna - Lower Brookhill Farm

A really enjoyable hour or so whistle stop tour of a few of my local sites which produced the most owls I have ever seen in such a short space of time, hope its a sign of things to come this summer!!!!!

Playback Success!!

Went out at dusk tonight to try out for the first time a call back procedure that Emily Joachim had recommended to me. Basically it consists of playing a specific little owl call (on my mobile phone) for a set period of time and then waiting to see if any local owls respond to you by calling back. To be honest I was a little sceptical but never the less I thought I'd try it out. After parking up I played the owl call out of the open window for 20 seconds, it then fell deafly silent whilst I waited for a response...................bloody hell a return call in an instant, my god it does work!!!! During previous visits to this site I had only ever seen 1 bird and I could now make him out up above me peering down out of a tiny crevice, I played the recording again. Oh my god there wasn't just the one owl calling back but TWO!!!! It appears he had been hiding his soul mate and it was good to finally make contact with her after all this time!

Site 32, Sambury Farm - Peatling Magna