North Facing!

I was to be found owl 'n' about again yesterday afternoon, although very windy the light levels were excellent so a few obliging owls should make it a good day in terms of images.

First stop was site No 79 near to Peatling Magna, I have never managed a "daytime" image from this site before so with the conditions in my favour I was hoping. After an hours wait sitting in the Landrover I was rewarded when a Little Owl showed itself at the nest hole entrance.  

He popped out briefly to do some wing stretching, it was a shame though as too many branches were obscuring my line of sight to get good images. To make matters even harder the nest hole faces north so the sun was never on the owl. I'm not complaining though as these were my best daytime views of the owl at this site.

Next stop was just down the road in the centre of Peatling Magna and site No 68. Again I had to wait a while but sure enough an owl showed in the end, and would you believe it,  the light was in totally the wrong direction again!!!!

This owl didn't hang around long, 2 minutes of good views and then straight back into it's nest hole. I think it was the wind that was keeping them in today, Little Owls just don't like the wind!

On a roll!

A late trip out tonight again proved very successful, on my quick tour around the Peatling Magna area Little Owls were seen at site No 16, 1 bird and site No 28, 1 bird heard, not bad I thought considering I was having a lazy night and doing all this from my car! As the light was drawing in I decided to call in at "owl avenue" on my way home to see which species.....if any were owl n about. 

About a mile before I got there I noticed a "typical Little Owl blob" in a roadside Ash tree, and in an area I hadn't seen one before. I pulled up and locked the bino's straight onto the blob before it disappeared, and yes yes yes.......it was an owl and a new site 123.

A characteristic blob that stands out against the "light" evening sky, similar sights like this have resulted in at least 50 of my new sites being located,  below left of the bird is the nest entrance.

Due to the time taken at the new Little Owl site I arrived later than planned at owl avenue and Little Owl site No 68. Anyhow not to be perturbed I pulled up, opened the windows and listened. First to show was a male Tawny Owl calling from the tree to my right, next was a Barn Owl that crossed in front of me hawking along the high dry grass. I'd about given up on the Little Owls showing when one appeared right in front of me on a road side fence post, sadly it was far to dark for any images........or was it??????

I turned on the car headlights to get a better view, it wasn't bothered an iota, in fact it continued to drop down onto the road, pick up a beetle or bug and return to its post. Whilst it did this I thought what the hell lets try and get an image, and this was the result. Through the (dirty) car windscreen, illuminated by the headlights, manual focusing and a shutter speed of 1 second, by no means a great image but something a little different!!!!

Chick Checking!

Saturday morning found me "owl 'n' about" again, accompanied by my good mate, Nigel Spencer, he had come along for the day to seize upon any photo opportunities that may arise during my rounds. Again, my main itinerary was to check out more little Owls sites to see if there had been any more juveniles emerging from the nests. 

Time is really against me now as most juveniles should have fledged and locating them becomes harder and harder. My tally for this year has already outweighed last year (which is good news in itself) however I feel it could have been much higher if I'd of had the time to get around and monitor all of my local sites, let alone the further afield ones!!!

The day wasn't going too good and we hadn't seen much until that is we arrived at a location near to site 104 at South Wigston. The local farmer had recently cut the hay in a field which now allowed access to a previous "no go area".  I wanted to follow this area up as a previous visit had shown signs of Little Owl activity (pellets). As we drove around the perimeter we neared the suspect area and Nigel spotted an owl sitting out on a limb. I shunted the Landrover back and forth until I was in a position to take a record shot of the bird.

Not sure if this bird was from the nearby site 104, or could it be a new location and site 110? Only time and further investigations will reveal all but for now it will be site 104!

 A record shot of the adult owl at site 104......or maybe site 110?????

I then panned the adjacent trees with my binoculars and BINGO, a juvenile was there too!!! Sadly not the best of images but another juvenile for this years tally. We hung around for a while but no second adult bird or any more juveniles were seen.

More breeding success, juvenile at site 104 (110?).

The other bit of juvenile success from the day was at site 21 at Willoughby Waterleys, a single bird was seen at very close quarters flying away from the nest site, sadly now image was possible.

We also visited Site 68 at Peatling Magna, here I located one of the three (of this years already  recorded) juveniles hiding in the nest tree. 

Site 68, coming out of hiding!

During the day we also visited site 22 at Willoughby Waterleys, I wasn't able to get any images of the 2 juveniles owls that were showing but after I dropped Nigel off I popped back to have another go.

No juveniles showed but my wait was rewarded when one of the adults popped out of the nest entrance.

Another image from site 22 with a "bit of golden glow".

What I did learn from the day is "juvenile spotting" or as it is also know "chick checking" is far more productive in the late evening to dusk period, but all things considered it wasn't too bad a day with two more being recorded taking this years tally to 49!

Double click on any image for a larger more detailed version.

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!!!!!