Braving It!

Due to the recent snow fall yesterday was absolutely no good for doing any photography, all the owls are tucked away and sheltering out of the elements. I still got out though but instead I went around a few local barns and derelict buildings to check on any Barn Owl activity.

 

Walking in the snow drifts was terribly difficult and very time consuming, consequently only four different locations were checked out. At the first site a Little Owl was flushed from the barn as I entered, that was a good start and my first siting of an owl this year at my site No 117. But the real reason for visiting this location near to Saddington was the fact that I have a Barn Owl box here, and it is being used! The box has been up a couple of years and to date only Stock Doves have shown any interest in it, but now it looks as though a Barnie has finally moved in. There were dozens of pellets in the barn and some directly under the box, so that bodes well for the future.

 

Two of the other sites that were visited produced nothing at one and another Little Owl was flushed at the third. The final location I visited was another derelict barn, it was here that I accidently flushed a Barn Owl only a couple of weeks ago, and it was there again! It had been day roosting in between two old pieces of corrugated iron sheet (not ideal?) and I'd never of known it was there if it hadn't taken flight. There were dozens of pellets scattered all around the barn so that tells me that it has now taken up residence, but I don't have a box at this site and considering where it was roosting a box was needed badly and quickly if it was to stay!

 

So that brings me to this morning (Sunday) again it was snowing and that meant no photography opportunities but I had another plan! I gathered up the troops (my kids Lou, Joe and my mate John and his dog Freddie) and to their utter dismay they couldn't believe we were going out in the blizzard like conditions. They all thought I was crazy when I told them we were going to put up a nest box for the Barn Owl that I saw yesterday. But once I explained the plight that this particular bird must be going through and how a box could make a big difference to its survival chances they agreed to help me and the owl!

 

Normally when I erect a box I have the Landrover available and it makes life nice and easy as all the kit, ladders and box are on board and all I do then is drive right up to the site, but not today! The closest we could get was a few hundred yards away so we had to walk across a couple of fields. To make life easier we employed the use of Joe's sledge, in these first two images Louise & Joe can be seen making light work of transporting the box and kit across the snow. 

This next image shows "Sherpa John" carrying my new telescopic ladders, they are a brilliant piece of equipment that makes erecting boxes and monitoring them a piece of cake, more about them later.

 

"Freddie" the dog seemed to be the only one of us who was enjoying the conditions!

 

The Barn, home of the owl.

The box was soon in position.

And finally let me introduce you properly to my new ladders, I had them for an xmas gift and this was the first time I'd actually used them. Fully extended they reach to nearly thirteen feet, they are not as sturdy as my normal ladders (a bit dodgy for a bloater like me!) but for transporting purposes they fold down smaller enough to fit in the boot of my car and that makes them extremely useful, you will no doubt be seeing them again! 

I will re-visit this site in a few weeks time and hopefully by then the owl should have found the box? If it does the small sacrifice of today would have been well worth it.

13.....Unlucky for some!

Only 50 minutes ago I chanced upon my latest Little Owl site, No 244! I was driving home along the narrow lanes near to Lutterworth, now normally I put my foot down along this particular stretch of road but because it was pitch black, foggy and very icy I was taking it steady. There is a certain bend on this road that even when the conditions are good it pays to slow down, as I was busy negotiating the dodgy bend something caught my attention........LITTLE OWL!!! It sat there bold as brass right in the middle of the road looking back at me. At first I thought the little fellow was injured, but as I got out of the car to investigate further off he flew.

 

That is now four new Little Owl sites that I have chanced upon in the last ten days, I guess I have just been lucky to have been in the right place at the right time?

 

What a start to 2013, some say the No 13 is unlucky, so far for me it isn't, hope it lasts! 

Weekend round up.

Late on Saturday afternoon and I set off to check out a potential Barn Owl site not far from the village of Broughton Astley. Sadly whilst there I didn't see any Barn Owls but what I did see/hear was more than satisfactory compensation, a solitary Short Eared Owl and a new Little Owl site!

 

The Shortie sighting was very brief indeed, the light was still OK for viewing but poor for photography so no image, even if it was OK I still wouldn't have been quick enough! It appeared totally out of the blue and I picked it up as it flew across the corner of the nearby lake and then off along a hedgerow into the distance, in total I had it in view for about 15 seconds  but  there was no doubt about what it was, only my second sighting in Leicestershire this winter.

 

After the excitement of the Shortie fly by I got back to concentrating on what else was happening....nothing! I'd all but given up on this owly looking area when I heard the calling of two Little Owls. I'd guess they were no further away than 50 yards but it was by now too dark to actually see them, dooooh! But hearing them was good enough for me, new site No 222!

 

On Sunday I was off out early, (no booze the night before Richard!) as I still have dozens of sites/boxes that needed checking out. Of the six Barn Owl boxes that were checked pellets were found at two of them, could have been the same bird though as they are only a few hundred yards apart? Little Owls were noted at five more known sites, three had pairs and singles at the others.

 

Whilst in between two of my known Little Owl sites at Peckleton I chanced upon another new location that holds birds, and it was located without even trying! I pulled up in a gateway to survey the general area and there sat on a post just inside the field was a Little Owl, and I thought I'd given up on locating new territories? I lent over to grab my camera off the passenger seat and by the time I'd turned back around it had gone! I couldn't see it anywhere so against my better judgement I got out of the car so I could see over the hedgerow, still I couldn't see it. I then glanced up into the nearby tree and there it was perched up high watching me! As soon as the shutter on the camera sounded off it flew, it landed on top of a barn roof which was partially obscured by some trees but viewing it through my binoculars I could see it had gone to join its mate!  I dipped down below the hedgerow and crept nearer to the barn, I was after an image of the pair of them together. But oh no they were far too cute for me and they had both disappeared and not seen again whilst I was there. I wasn't too disappointed though as this was my new site No 223!  

 

Little Owl site No 223 - Peckleton

I finally arrived at my site No 47 at Peckleton, here it was good to see that the resident birds are still holding their territory. The views were atrocious as they stayed up high in the nest tree, below.

 

Little Owl site No 47

Not a lot else to report from the day really, a few other species were noted as the day progressed,  this hen Bullfinch came quite close as she fed on seed heads near to one of my owl sites. 

Bloody Useless!

I did do a bit of owling today but didn't venture out until mid-morning, the hangover wouldn't let me as I was far too groggy, and giddy! And to be fair I wish I'd of had a few more pints last night as that would have probably made me stay in altogether, the day was poor.

 

I visited countless different owl sites and at everyone of them I drew a blank, except the one site! The resident Little Owls at my site No 10 at Cosby were the lifesavers. They weren't doing much though apart from sheltering out of the biting wind, they posed for a couple of images but these are all I have to show from the day.

 

This first image is of the hen bird, she kept her distance. 

 

 

The male owl allowed me to get quite close from the cover of my car, he just sat there at the nest entrance and stared back at me! 

Whilst at this venue I also checked out the Barn Owl nest box that I put up a few weeks ago, no bird was seen but there were plenty of pellets and poo under the box so things look promising?

That is it, a very quick review of the day, I hope tomorrow brings me a bit more luck?

Cosby Waxwings

The jungle drums have been banging quite loudly of late about a flock of Waxwings in the adjoining village of Cosby. They have been there around a week or so now and the temptation got the better of me so I had a wander down to have a look. Upon arrival 7 or 8 other birders were standing around idly looking at a birdless tree! I didn't join them, instead I opted to sit in the car and await the birds return. After a 30 minute wait and no sign of the Waxwings I decided to take matters into my own hands and went off looking for them. It took me no more than 2 minutes to locate them, just around the corner in the next street!

 

I was quite lucky as I had all the birds to myself for a good 10 minutes before they flew off, the image above was a bit different to the majority (no sky!) as a wooden fence offered a nice defused and neutral background. In total I saw 21 birds, however I don't think they will be around too much longer as there are hardly any berries left!

Owls owls everywhere!

Sunday was spent slogging around more old Little Owl sites checking for residential occupancy, I was in the Wistow & Fleckney area and it was a bag of mixed results.

 

The first couple of sites I checked out offered nothing at all, a bit worrying really as they both had breeding owls at them last year. The third site I visited is a relatively new site for me, No 219. I first recorded owls here back on November 28th 2012. At the time I wasn't sure if they were just dispersing juveniles moving on to pastures new, but I needn't have worried as they were both still there although they did take some finding?

 

I parked up on the private track that runs up to the farm house, it was here right next to the orchard that I saw the owls on my last visit. The weather wasn't too bad and it allowed me to sit quietly in the car with all the windows open whilst reading the newspaper. The first signs that they were still around came when I heard the typical low droaning call of one of the birds, just like last time it was coming from the orchard. The newspaper was soon discarded and replaced with my binoculars. It then took quite some time before I got my first sighting, and that wasn't surprising concidering how deep in the foliage it was!

LO site No 219 - hiding owl.

 After a while it obviously got fed up with playing hide and seek and out it popped from its cover

It was a bit of a surprise when it took flight and flew straight at me and then landed in the suspect nest tree that I was parked next to. This offered a much closer view and an improved photo opportunity. What I didn't realise at the time is this owl has a damaged left eye, it was much darker yellow and very bloodshot.

Although I only managed to photograph one of the owls I did see a pair here, bodes well for the breeding season. Could be a good site to erect a box, mmmmmm we'll have to see? I didn't spend too much longer with them once I realised they were still around and off I went in search of more owls.

 

The next four sites I visited resulted in two complete blanks and two sites with single birds, they will all have to be re-visited again! But the best news came when I was checking out the owls at my site No 184 in Kilby, I'd heard a single owl call here but didn't see it. Whilst I was scanning the general area I noticed that the lane that led off to my right was more than just a dead end and ran on for further than I realised, this needed further investigation! 

 

And it was right at the end of the lane when I was turning around that this chap (below) was spotted sitting in a roadside Ash Tree. I can't say that I'd missed him previously as I'd never been down there before! Only the single bird was seen but never the less, get in there new site No 221. The image is a poor one but needless to say I will return in an attempt to improve upon it and to see if there is a pair. 



LO site No 221

The final site that I visited was a three pronged attack really, firstly I wanted to see if the Little Owls at my site No 91 were still around and using one of my nest boxes. The second was to see if any Barn Owls were about, I use to see them here on a regular basis but not since 2011. And thirdly this is the site that I had my best ever encounter with a wintering Long Eared Owl! Whilst waiting the land owner and his wife drove past and stopped for a quick chat, they informed me that they had good views of a solitary Barn Owl just before Christmas, but nothing since?

 

Eventually I had to give up as it got too dark to see, sadly no Barn or Long Eared Owls were seen but I did see one of the resident Little Owls. Just before the light went it popped out of my nest box and into the tree, I managed just the one distant image (below) at an ISO of 6400, it shows the nest tree, my nest box and the owl, I'll bet you a fiver you can't see it?

 

LO site No 91.

LATE NEWS!!!!

 

I had two snippets of red hot information late today (Monday). Firstly a birding buddy informed me that this evening he saw a pair of Barn Owls at a local site that I monitor, really good news as I have only ever seen a single owl here.

 

And then a phone call from a local landowner, she has a Barn Owl roosting in one of her out buildings, and I have never ever seen a Barn Owl at that location before!

 

Things are really starting to hot up on the Barnie front! 

Owlometer kicks into life!

Saturday morning was spent flitting around various Little Owl sites to see if they still had any occupancy in readiness for the breeding season in the spring. But before any monitoring could commence I paid a visit to my Jay feeding site to top it up with a handful of peanuts and set up my hide. A return was planned later in the day and hopefully by then a few birds would be coming to the free offerings and some image opportunities would be available?

 

Apart from the brief Little Owl encounter I had on new years day at my site No 6 (see previous post) my running tally for the year was 1 bird from 1 site! Now this is a pretty poor return considering we are fast approaching the end of the first week of 2013. As this tally gathers momentum I will keep an update as to how many Little Owls I have been seen and from how many sites on my "Owlometer" this can be seen on the right hand side of this blog. 

 

Also this year I am going to be keeping and updating a second owlometer for Barn Owls, this species numbers have been quite sparse in recent years but things are starting to change! Judging by the amount of sightings that I have already made this year it appears that my nest box programme is improving the numbers somewhat. Whether through design or by default I have already seen single Barn Owls at three totally different locations, that is already only one less than the whole of last years total! The Barn Owl by nature wanders/hunts across a much wider area than the Little Owl and therefore cross over sightings are inevitable and monitoring exact numbers becomes far more difficult. But if I keep a record I am sure that once their territories have been established things will sort themselves out?

 

So after the quick stop off at the Jay station I got on with the task in hand of finding some Little Owls. In total I managed to visit fifteen known territories, they didn't all offer a viewing but by the time I'd finished 10 different birds were seen across 7 different sites. The photo opportunities were somewhat limited as most of the birds were just "dots in the distance". I did however managed a couple of shots (below) of the "closer" birds but these were still too far away to achieve any quality. I'm sure if I'd of hung around longer improved images would have been on the cards but as time was of the essence I wasn't prepared to hang around and wait for them!

 

A distant sighting was made at my site No 95.

Site No 217, another distant owl!

On the way back home I popped in to the Jay feeding station, a three hour vigil from the hide only produced two separate and very fleeting visits from the birds, I think they were nervous of the hide?

It was absolutely freezing in the hide so rather than sit there shivering like a dog in a wet sack I called it a day. The warmth of the car was bloody lovely, so I just drove around for an hour or so just to get the blood flowing again, and I'm glad I did! As I was driving through one of the villages on the way home whooosh, a Barn Owl flew across the road right in front of me! It was a new bird in a new area and no where near any of my previously seen sites for this year, so that not equals my sightings for the whole of 2012!

First owl of the year!

I have made a decision not to continue doing my annual review of 2012, it was far too time consuming and all I was doing was going over old ground really, lets be honest it was pretty boring! The three months that I did do (Jan-Mar) can still be read as they are at the top of this page just under the main header image, but it won't be there for long!

 

So my first owl of 2013 has been seen, on the morning of new years day (and no I wasn't walking off a hangover!). I came face to face with this chap (below) from my site No 6 at Peckleton, it is a heavily cropped image but the first of many owly images to come in 2013, fingers crossed!

 

 

It may be a little late but here's wishing you all a very happy and prosperous new year! 

 

Tawny Owl

I have been waiting an awful long time to get a Tawny Owl image in the daylight, the conditions were challenging but I am well pleased with the results from the one and only opportunity I've had in 2012!

There were two of them tucked up inside this hole, now I know where this site is I'll be heading back next weekend, cheers John!

The morning after.

No birding of any sort was conducted on Saturday because it was an out and out boozing day. We were celebrating Daz's 50th and needless to say we were going to do it properly! We "got on it" at midday and come 8.00pm we were all done for! There'd been countless pints of lager sunk and in between we sampled a few glasses of red wind and towards the end of the day we went up to the top shelf and finished off with a few tots of rum.

Ooooh my head was hurting this morning, but regardless of the suffering Daz and I ventured out into the fresh air to do a bit of birding. First up I treated Daz to his first ever Waxwing encounter, the local site that I have been keeping a vigil on produced the goods again with 10 birds showing well.

There was no excuses about the conditions, it was almost perfect and loads of images were taken but with my shaking hands most ended up being fuzzy!

 

Also during the morning an hour was spent checking out a local Barn Owl site, the Barn Owl didn't show but as a consolation the resident Little Owl put in an appearance. It just popped out of a hole in the roof where a slate is missing, looked around and then just as quick disappeared again! 

 

To round the day off we checked out a few other likely looking Barn Owl sites but none were seen. Our final destination of the day was the site where the newest Barn Owl box was put up, see previous post from Dec 3rd "another owl box".

We walked down to the box to check it out (more in hope than anything else) and there in the grass directly beneath the entrance we found a single owl pellet! We quickly moved back to a safe distance to observe. Then just as it was getting dark a pure white face appeared at the box entrance, yessssss a Barn Owl!!! It was far too dark to take any images but it didn't matter, this was just the tonic we needed to take away our hangovers, and to think that this box was only put up 13 days ago, knowing that it has been occupied already was very rewarding.
 

Wonderful Norfolk Barnies.

I made the most of my day off of work yesterday by re-visiting the north Norfolk coast. I was on the road for 5am with the intention of being there for first light. Barn Owls were the initial quarry and if everything went to plan I was hoping a hunting bird could be located before it got too bright? 

 

I'd recently been in contact with Doug McFarlane regarding the Norfolk Barn Owls as he is a frequent visitor to the area and knows it well. For some reason the local Barnie's tend to be seen out hunting in the daylight hours on a more regular basis than here in Leicestershire? Doug had very kindly given me the heads up on some likely locations (cheers mate) so after plotting them all on a map off I went. The roads en route were empty and good progress was being made, the sat nav was telling me that I was due to be at the first site a good 30 minutes before dawn, excellent that allowed me enough time to stop off for a hearty, (but not very healthy) breakfast!

 

I was in situ at the first location just as the sun started to creep over the horizon, although chilly it looked as though the light was going to be in my favour first thing.  Wow, the area looked just perfect as the early golden light lit up the whole area, there was lots of waste/scrubland, a meandering river and total solitude, all that was needed now was a Barnie!

 

I'd been there huddled against a hedgerow surveying the area for around 20 minutes and no owls were seen, although by now it was very bright and excellent for photography it was also bitterly cold. The wind was harsh and cutting straight through me, I needed to warm up so it was back to the car for some shelter. It was at this point that I reluctantly gave up with this location and moved on to another of Doug's referred sites. The story was the same at the second, it look great but no owls? Maybe the high winds were putting them off? On the way to the third site I took a wrong turn, and how fortunate that turned out to be! As I was conducting a three point turn in a gateway my first Barnie of the day was spotted. It was distant but looking a the terrain I calculated that if it continued to hunt the marginal edge of this vast field it could make its way around to me? I got myself prepared and again I crouched down low in the hedgerow and waited. Everything then worked to perfection,  the owl got nearer and nearer and eventually it was with range of my 300mm. It was so pre-occupied with hunting for prey it didn't even give me a glance as a few shots were rattled off!

 

Its next move was to go up and over the adjacent hedgerow, a tentative glance around and I could see that it had landed on a post right next to where I'd parked my car. It perched there for a few minutes whilst scanning the nearby scrub for prey, I hesitantly moved very slightly and crack, a twig broke under foot, instantly it turned its head and looked straight at me. I didn't try to get any nearer for fear of spooking it so I settled for this distant shot, sadly it was in the shade, doooh!   

It didn't seemed bothered about my presence and carried on surveying to ground around it, I think me being backed into the hedgerow helped? Eventually it took flight and came back into the field I was in and continued to hunt the field margin. It was now flying away from me but after 10 minutes it made its way around the whole perimeter of the field and now a second pass by was on the cards. Only this time it came even closer and just as it came within range it lifted up a little higher and turned midair, it caught the golden sunlight just perfectly.

 

It was an all but too brief encounter really but excellent whilst it lasted. Seeing these magnificent creatures out in good light is a very rare occurrence in deed, especially where I live in Leicestershire! Another "daytime" hunting owl was located later in the day at a different location but before I could nail any images it drifted too far away. I will deffo be making a re-visit to Norfolk and these two new sites as soon as circumstances allow, its just brilliant!

More Jays

A number of posts ago I mentioned that I'd been working on a couple of other projects away from the owls, the first being Kingfishers and the second being Jays. The Kingfisher project has yet to produce any results but after a very slow start the Jay project is now gathering momentum.  Originally I selected a secluded location that had the most important requisite.....OAK TREES. The next part of the plan was to create a "feeding table" and this would be topped up every couple of days with a variety of nuts.

 

Up until yesterday all that I had seen there were Magpies, Crows & Squirrels. I was en route to an appointment and did my usual quick stop off to keep the feed topped up, and to my amazement as I was driving off a Jay appeared! That was it, an early lunch was to be had and I parked up the car and waited. I didn't have long due to other commitments but that wasn't an issue, the Jays came back down to the feed almost straight away. There was three in total and they must have been hungry as they demonstrated a bolder approach than I have ever seen before. The light wasn't very good but hey I am not moaning as these are by far the best Jay images I have ever captured. I did do a quick post with a few images late last night but I didn't have much time as I was off to the pub! So this morning I have had time to go through the other images and here they are. 

It was a very exciting ten minutes for me, absolutely brilliant when a long term plan comes to fruition, OK lets go and get some Kingfisher images now!

Eventually!!!

Most of us "birding types" have that certain image of a particular species that in our minds eye we would love to nail a picture of, in my case the Jay was my quarry. It has always been a mythological bird in my life, you hear that it is an easy bird to see if you go to the right place at the right time of year, but so far it has kept its distance from me! I have been very fortunate to capture thousands of owl images that the every day folk would die for and I'd gladly trade some of those encounters for seeing some Jays. After five years of trying to get get close to them they have always proved to be elusive. I have tried on many occasions to get a "record shot" of this "shy away from the camera" bird and failed every time, but I wasn't going to give up that easily!

 

This year we have been graced with a continental influx of them into the UK, so no better time than now! A few birding friends have beaten me to "getting up close and personnel" and achieved some stunning images (well done guys) but this has only given me more encouragement.  After countless visits and thirteen quids worth of peanuts at my feeding station at last it had a few visits, and believe it or not whilst being graced with their presence I had my camera with me!  The light wasn't brilliant as it was late in the day but these are by far the best images I have achieved to date.  

 

I will no doubt be visiting these gems again over the next few days,  I know it is a long shot but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some better light and hopefully some better images?

Waxwings

I gave in, I wasn't going to bother with them this winter but beings as there are so many in Leicestershire at the moment I went to have a look. The light was for ever changing, but I am happy(ish) with the results.

 

 

 

It was a real challenge but I wanted some flight shots, they were a little too high which resulted in heavier cropping than I would have liked, but my first ever proper in flight images of Waxwings.

 

 

 

And no set of Waxwing images should be without the customary "berry shot".

 

 

On the way home a new Barnie site was located, a couple of very shoddy record shots were achieved, the light was atrocious!

 

 

Another Owl Box.

A couple of weeks ago whilst erecting a Barn Owl box at a private location I chanced upon a pile of 50 x long wooden boxes, there approx dimensions were 2 feet square and 12 feet long. They looked absolutely perfect for being adapted into more owl boxes, trouble was they weren't mine!

 

So after a bit of of down on my knees groveling with the land owner I was told to take what I wanted, yesssss! Due to the size of them I was going to need a large undercover workshop/area for storage and working on them, it also needed to be as close to home as possible? So this is where my mate Norman comes onto the scene,  Norman has his own steel fabrication business only a mile from where I live, and he kindly offered me the use of his premises.

 

So one evening last week I made a trip over there with Norman in his flat bed lorry (he's a handy guy to know!). We were going to take several of these boxes back and store them at his premises. I would then go back in the evenings and at weekends to start adapting them into loads and loads of owl boxes. The trouble was we just couldn't lift them, we didn't realise until we inspected them closer that they were made of 1 1/2" ply with two 2" x 3" hard wood bearers that ran the entire length of the box, it also had a 2" ply board false bottom and 8 steel lifting lugs, believe me they were HEAVY and going nowhere!! So our original plan of taking a lorry load of these boxes back to Norm's was discarded, instead we decided to saw one box in half to reduce the weight. Now that was easier said than done, we took it in turns with the hand saw and eventually we got there, it only took us an hour! We were both knackered, but we did have enough strength to load the two halves onto the lorry, just!

 

So that brings me to this morning, Col Green and I went over to Norms to take a closer look at the boxes and work out the best way to adapt them into owl boxes. When Col saw them he wasn't very impressed, the simple and quick task of converting them into owl boxes was far more complicated than I'd made out, oh no I was in trouble! 

 

Anyway after Col had given me a bollocking we got on with the task in hand, he can be seen here using Norm's fork lift truck to manoeuvre the heavy timber. Not the wide angle shot that I'd have liked but I forgot to take my camera with us so these images were taken on Col's phone (he doesn't look very happy does he?).

 

It took us far longer than anticipated and sadly a lot of the timber was wasted. It wasn't just a case of sawing the long box into segments and then adding a side and an end. We had to completely strip it down and then discard the false bottom and hardwood bearers before re-assembling what was left, but with Col's expertise we did it! Even though the box size was now 30% smaller than we originally planned it was still dam heavy, we reckon double the weight of any other box we had ever made. Normally we are able to take a box up the ladder before fixing it into position, there was no way we could possible do that with this box, but fear not I had a plan!

 

I made a quick call to the land owner where we wanted to site the box, I explained our dilemma and asked for his assistance, he was only too willing to help. He knew that if the two Barns Owls he'd seen recently around his farm were to remain we had to act fast.

 

And here is the secret weapon, it made easy work of getting the both of us up to the correct height so we could mount the box, it made Col a happy chappy too!  

 

 

And finally, our newly designed box in it's final resting place, do ya like it?

 

I will be returning to the box very soon to put on some roof felt to help protect it from the elements. Apparently it is the kind that adheres with the use of a blow torch, but that's another story and another mate that's been hoodwinked into helping me!