A hunting master class......

It has been absolutely ages since I had the pleasure of having a good session watching a Barn Owl, in fact I think the last one was in Norfolk at the end of 2012. So to have witnessed one this evening out hunting in Leicestershire and in good light too was a real bonus!

Most of the time it stayed distant, circa a 100 yards or so but on the odd occasion it did fly a little nearer and on two occasions it actually landed on a post that was quite close by.

Myself and the local landowner watched from a crouched position next to my car as it hunted his field for a good 30 minutes. In this time we saw it make five dives into the long grass and on three occasions it came up successfully with a vole, not a bad ratio at all!

In between each successful catch it would disappear out of sight, no doubt to take its bounty back to the brood of chicks that were waiting in its nearby nest box.

At times the setting sun broke through the clouds which then threw a beautiful golden hue onto the owl and surrounding area.

Who needs to go all the way to Norfolk to witness such a marvelous display of hunting agility, all this and only a 5 minute drive from home!!

Catch up soon, thanks for stopping by!!!

Owl 'n' about - Sunday June 1st

Hi all, I managed to get "owl n about" for a few hours yesterday and had a couple of nice surprises!

In an attempt to get the afternoon/evening owling session off to a good start I called in to one of my more reliable Little Owl sites. It is quite a rare occurrence not to see an owl or two here and today was no exception with the resident pair showing very well indeed!

After many years of using the apex in an old barn for their nest site this year they were tempted to re-locate into a nest box we put up for them last winter. Only last week Col and I checked out the box and the hen bird was inside brooding her two tiny chicks. The location of the box makes it much more accessible for me to get close in the Landrover with the minimal of disruption and as planned the viewing and closeness of the owls is much improved.

I hadn't been parked up for long when the pair appeared on the barn roof,  it's a busy farm yard with vehicles coming and going all day so they soon ignored me and got on with what owls get on with.  

The Landrover was positioned parallel to where the birds gain entry into the open-sided barn which is near to where the nest box is sited. Because there are chicks in the box I knew the hen owl wouldn't venture too far away and as it proved she didn't! Great views were had of her as she grubbed around on the floor looking for tit bits and morsels.     

My second task of the day was to follow up a message that I received from Dave & Liz (local land owners in a nearby village), they think they may have seen a Barn Owl at the entrance to a nest box they have only recently erected. Now this snippet of information did make some sense because only a few hundred yards from where they live I had an "active" box with a pair of Barn Owls in residence. Unfortunately on my last visit to this particular box (a few weeks ago now) the Barn Owls had been evicted by a pair of Stock Doves who were by then tightly incubating their own eggs.

I had no idea as to where the Barn Owls had gone but armed with this latest information maybe not too far? Well my investigations proved to be very positive, initially a couple of very wet, heavy and jet black pellets were discovered on the ground below the box, certainly no more than a day or two old. Then after getting into the right position two Barn Owls could be made out roosting in the box. I will be making another visit one evening this week to investigate further, hopefully this is not just a roost site and breeding has commenced, time will tell............?

Not too far from where Dave & Liz's house is located I have a Tawny Owl site that I've been monitoring on and off for the last couple of months. I have seen a pair "day roosting" in a natural tree cavity on a few occasions but not recently so I suspected their chosen nest site was elsewhere. Last night I went and parked up near to this tree and waited, for the first 30 minutes nothing was either seen or heard. Then to my total surprise a Tawny Owl chick emerged at the cavity entrance, it was brilliant to watch and I filled my boots with dozens of images.

I even managed to capture some video footage of the Chick as it inquisitively looked at its new world, click on image below to view.

So not a bad few hours owling, sightings were made of three different species all within just a few hundred yards of each other!

Thanks for stopping by, see ya all soon.........

All worth while...........

Just lately any spare time has been taken up with box checking, more box checking and a bit more box checking. Occasionally a bit of ringing has taken place in between the box checking!  Completing these tasks is a labour of live really but it is so time consuming it doesn't leave time for any general birding or owling. 

Well I needed a freshener and a change of scene so I made time to go and check a few Little Owl sites out where I know there has been proven breeding in previous years. None of these sites have a box, they are all in either natural cavities in trees or holes buildings but never the less I went and sussed them out to see if there was any early emerging chicks, sadly there wasn't. However, at one site both the adult owls were out so this suggests they may well have young in the nest?  

After a lengthy wait a single adult owl popped through the small gap in between the wall and an old wooden door to have a look at me!

Although the perspective of the image (above) possibly gives the impression I was relative close to this bird I wasn't! I'd parked the Land-rover up in a gateway and because of the height I was able to photograph over the field gate which I was parallel to. The building where the owl sat was a good 20 meters away, hence a heavy crop.

The owl was soon joined by presumably its partner, no sooner had it popped out of the same hole they both took flight and perched up on the corner of the building.

Here they stayed for a good five minutes battling to keep a grip in the high winds, they seem quite content sheltering out of the elements until their piece was shattered by a mobbing family of Swallows. The Swallows are nesting very close by in the building and I don't think they were comfortable with where the owls were settled so I assume the best method of defense is attack!

Because the light had improved somewhat it allowed for quite high shutter speeds so I gave it a go at trying to capture a Swallow as it attacked. I messed up the majority of my attempts (they fly so fast!) but one reasonable image was captured that gives a sense of the action. 

The luxury of chilling out and doing a bit of owl watching and photography soon came to an end though, more box checking was needed! I wasn't too far from one of my potential Barn Owl sites so over to there I went. 

As I entered the barn two adult Barn Owls flew past my head in the opposite direction, things looked promising. After carefully removing the observation cover I was greeted by the stink from hell! The ammonia nearly knocked me off my ladder! There was a chick right at the front of the box, it was tiny and I'd hazard a guess and say was no more that 1-2 days old. It lay right next to it's next dinner, not sure what type of rodent it is, a mouse I think?

I used my torch to see further into the box and I managed to make out at least three further chicks and six or seven rodent corpses. The adults are obviously having an easier time of it than of late with catching their prey, it appears that they are in abundance this year. The cover was soon replaced on the box and I made a hasty retreat.

The next lot of ringing has also taken place, Neil, Col and I visited one of my Tawny Owl sites that has taken up residence in a Barn Owl box. Luckily neither of the adults were home when we visited which gave us the opportunity to ring the two owlets. 

Yours truly went up to the box first, once I'd made sure there were no adults in residence Neil went up to extract our bounty.

I've no experience on aging Tawnies, but I'd take an educated guess and say they were a couple of weeks old? Below Neil and Col can be seen completing the ringing task.

I had a quick cuddle with the owlets before they were safely returned to the box.

And finally here is a close up of one of the chicks, beautiful or ugly..........you decide? 

So far of the boxes we have checked we have Tawnies in four boxes all with chicks, Little Owls are also in four boxes but only one has chicks so far with the rest still on eggs. And finally there are also four pairs of Barn Owls in boxes with a mixture of eggs and chicks.

It is dam hard work but when you reap the rewards as we are doing now it is all well worth it!

Thanks for stopping by................

Little Owl Count.......

Back in the early days of this great owling roller coaster that I am now on I made acquaintance with a charming young lady called Emily Joachim. At the time Emily was working towards her PHD with the main subject matter being the demise of the Little Owl. Obviously we had a common interest and when I saw her appear on the BBC's "The One Show" I was compelled to make contact. 

Now that was a few years ago and ever since Emily and I have become good friends and have stayed in contact. She has made several visits to see me here in Leicestershire where we have gone out owling together. Some of the advice she gave me when I was a bit green was invaluable and still bares well today.

Anyway, I have recently been contacted again by my owl extraordinaire as she wanted to inform me of a new website that she was championing that is dedicated to the Little Owl and their sightings. Because the Little Owl is now majorly in decline in the UK Emily is attempting to create a database where she is actively encouraging the British public to participate by logging their encounters of this brilliant species. 

Please click on the image below and it will take you to the site.

I am sure you will all agree that it is a beautifully presented site with loads of information. All I ask now is that can you guys out there help Emily by uploading your encounters/sightings and images, I will be!!

Finally I must congratulate Emily on passing her PHD and the next time I see her I must remember to call her Doctor, mmmm I wonder if she will expect me to curtsy too??

Tawny Owl ringing.......

In my previous post I highlighted the recent surprise of discovering a Tawny Owl chick perched at the entrance at one of my nest boxes, and that I was going to return as soon as possible to investigate what has been occurring inside the said box. Well last night I made the return trip accompanied by a birding and ringing buddy, Neil Hagley. I was really looking forward to it as although I have had plenty of experience with Little Owls & Barn Owls this was going to be my first real up close and personnel encounter with a Tawny.  

Neil has had previous experience of ringing Tawny Owls and he expressed that when we open up the box we should do so with caution. Unlike Barn Owls that when disturbed do all they can to just flee the nest and return when all is quiet and Little Owls that just stay motionless Tawny Owls can be a problem? They have a bit of a reputation of being fearless when it comes to defending their young and can get quite aggressive. There have even been reports that Tawny Owls will attack a human and inflict actual harm if they intrude too close to a nest site, famous bird photographer Eric Hoskins even lost and eye after being attacked by a Tawny Owl!!   

Neil advised that wearing glasses should be mandatory as we didn't want another similar instance to what happened to poor old Eric Hoskins! I volunteered to go up the ladder first and risk life and limb by opening the door, I was pretty nervous at first but once I'd opened up the door and realized there were no adult owls in residence the tension reduced some what. It was then Neils turn to go up to the box and extract the chicks.

   

Sadly there was only the one chick in the box, but what a beauty it turned out to be!

Tawny Owl - site No 7

The next box we checked out had a two, possible three Tawny Owl chicks in it, but we decided to leave ringings these individuals until another time as an adult bird was in there too!

At the third box things started to turn sour, only last week there was an adult Tawny Owl, and unhatched egg and two tiny chicks but on this visit they had all vanished being replaced by a Stock Dove on two eggs?? Blimey if these Stock Doves can evict Tawnies they must be the Mike Tyson's of the birding world!

At the last box we checked things took a turn for the more positive, no adult owl was in residence but three very healthy chicks were. Neil very carefully and quickly extracted them all one by one from the box and were all rung in no time at all.

Neil worked so speedily it even gave us time to have a quick family portrait. 

I made the most of my first close up encounter with these majestic creatures and managed a few close ups.

It was a great experience going out ringing my first Tawny chicks, I learnt a lot, especially the respect that these birds must be given! And finally I must give Neil a massive thank you for giving up his spare time to come and ring my owls, cheers buddy.

Neil & the 3 chicks from the last site.

Thanks for stopping by and hopefully there will be some Little Owls and Barns Owls to ring soon?

Watch this space...................

A nice surprise!!

Last night I made yet another trip out to one of my Tawny Owl sites that I have been monitoring for the last few weeks. The sightings of late have been very sparse indeed with the adult birds only showing when darkness had fell, consequently poor viewing and no images! However, on this trip things turned out a bit different with a new Tawny Owl putting in an appearance? As with all the more recent visits I was in situ around 2 hours before dusk, as usual things were very quiet and nothing showed or called for the first hour or so,  but then I heard a thumping noise coming from the nest box?? My attention was turned away from the adults usual favoured perches as I was intrigued as to what was causing the strange noise coming from the box?

Then all was revealed as a Chick emerged at the box entrance, I had my suspicions that the hen owl may have been on eggs (this box hadn't been checked so I didn't know for sure) but I was shocked to see such a well developed youngster. 

It sat there for a good 10 minutes looking around and for all I knew this was possibly its first ever look at its new world? I was concerned for its welfare though, because if it dropped to the ground it would be very venerable to being predated, thankfully it didn't venture out onto the ledge opting instead to just cling on at the entrance.  

It soon tired of "clinging on" and dropped back down into the box, maybe to join its siblings? All then went very quiet for the next hour. Then just as the light was starting to fade my boredom of waiting for something to happen was broken when a "hissing" sound could then be heard coming from the box, the chick was begging for food. I got prepared as surely the parent owls could hear it too? Then as predicted one of the adult owls emerged from a crevice in a nearby tree, it was just like when mum or dad come running to a screaming kid. I was positioned in the Landrover right in-between where the owl had appeared from the roost tree and the box, the decision to park there paid dividends as it landed just where I would have asked, right next to me!

By now it was just before 9:00pm and the light had almost gone, although you would never believe it judging on these images alone. Absolutely amazing how these modern day camera's and lenses (and a bit of post editing) can still produce the goods even in the lowest of light levels. In order to obtain these images I had to "lock" the camera down on my bespoke door clamp and activate the shutter with a cable release. Yes the images are grainy but when the setting are F2.8, ISO 2000 and a shutter speed of 1/15th of a second I am well chuffed. Luckily the owl held these particular poses for a few seconds otherwise they would have just been a total blur. 

The adult owl then flew up to the box, poked its head into the hold and made a rather strange rasping shrill, (I'd never heard that call before?) but it worked, the chick(s) stopped the begging calls. Nothing much happened after that, well to be fair it was too dark to see really! 

The next thing I did was to call Neil a birding mate and local ringer, I explained to him the situation and that I was very surprised to see a chick at this box let alone such a well developed one. We knew time was of the essence for ringing as it could fledge the box very soon, Neil agreed and we arranged to make a re-visit the very next evening to open up the box and ring the chick, hopefully there will be more than one.

All will be revealed in my next post..................???

Thanks for stopping by!

Good news everywhere........

Col and I made the most of our spare time during the last two weekends, our mission was to get around as many of our Barn Owl boxes as possible to check for any signs of activity or occupancy. We weren't that confident of discovering much as the Barn Owl has taken a massive hit during the last 12 months with the UK population being decimated. It has been recently published in a paper that the UK population has been reduced from an estimated 7,000 pairs to a miserly 1,000 pairs, the atrocious weather conditions being the main culprit. 

We kicked off our marathon task by incorporated into our monitoring scheme two more Barn Owl boxes that have been made and erected by a local landowner (Raymond). No activity was discovered in the two boxes whilst there but Raymond has phoned me since to say we he has seen a Barn Owl flying too and from a haystack, so that might be promising? Whilst at this location we drove through one of the big open barns, it was then I noticed that we were being watched? Hiding on one of the steel girders up in the roof was a partially hidden Little Owl, Raymond said he had them there but I only count them as one of my new sites if I see the bird for myself, and I did! 

Little Owl - site No 245

So this is now my new Little Owl site No 245, I do hope that there is a pair there and breeding takes place. I am also hoping to hear from Raymond again in the near future with some good news regarding the Barn Owls and the haystack.

During our two trips out Col and I managed to get around and check some twenty boxes, we had the usual Jackdaws, Stock Doves and Squirrels in residence in a few but the big surprise was we had pairs of Barn Owls in five separate boxes, and all on eggs!!! And then an even bigger surprise we also had Tawny Owls in four different boxes and all with chicks!!! Goodness knows where all these birds have come from but our boxes are very much to their liking so I'm not complaining.

At one particular Barn Owl site Col was prepared with his camera and managed to capture images of both the male & female owl as they left the box, below.

Female at Box site No 83.

Male at box site No 83.

So after what was a disastrous breeding year in 2013 it looks as though 2014 is going to be a bumper one and our best year yet, and we still have loads more boxes to check. 

Super Sunday!

On Sunday morning Col Green and I had a couple of spare hours so we used the time wisely and went and checked some more owl boxes. Due to the time constraints we only managed to check two boxes as the rest of the time was spent doing a bit of networking with a local landowner of whom I'd never met before. This guy (I'll call him Mr X) got to find out about us through the "farmers grapevine" and wanted to discuss things with us further, we were intrigued! But before we went and met this mystery guy we checked out two Barn Owl boxes not far from where he lived. 

Normally when a box is "in use" there are some tell tale signs that there maybe occupancy, like pellets on the ground below the box or poo on the landing shelf, but there was neither in evidence here?

Barn Owl box, a pair in residence.

So when we accidentally flushed a pair of Barn Owls out of the first box we were totally surprised (yes I do have a schedule 1 licence that allows me to check/disturb potential breeding sites at this time of year). We then took the opportunity to quickly check inside the box and what we discovered next was even more a surprise.........four eggs!!! Obviously as soon as we found out this brilliant news a hasty retreat was made leaving the owls to return and get on with it.

At the second box we had more great news, before we erected the ladder a gentle tap was made on the side of the box and a Tawny Owl came scuttling out and flew to the nearby woods, wow we never expected that!

A box meant for Barn Owls, we didn't mind that a Tawny family is now in residence.

Col then gingerly placed the ladders up against the box and peered in, another adult owl was tucked away in the corner which exposed at least 3 chicks and 2 unhatched eggs!!!! This was a very unexpected but gladly received find, unbelievably my eighth new Tawny Owl territory located this year!

Once we'd done the box checking off we went to meet Mr X, a really nice guy who just loves his birds, especially owls! He'd heard of the work that Col and I had been doing over the last few years and wanted to offer us a deal? Although he owns an enormous swath of land with lots of suitable habitat for Barn Owls he hadn't seen one for years and that is where we came in. He thought we could help by doing a survey and then make and erect a couple of boxes in the most suitable locations. In return he is able to offer us as much reclaimed timber as we liked (gets it through his business) and the use of his carpentry shop, how could we refuse? So phone numbers were exchanged and I now await his call when the timber is ready, what a top chap!!

That was the end to time spent with Col as he had a pressing appointment elsewhere. I was then joined by Jonah and the two of us decided to go and check out some more owl boxes. En route over the fields I noticed a passerine on top of a manure heap, I checked it out through my binoculars and although distant there was no doubt about the species, a male Wheatear. As I turned the Land-rover in the direction of the Wheatear a Lapwing was noticed sitting in the middle of the field, as we approached it took flight but only landed a few yards away. We were suspicious there was a nest and without even getting out of the Land-rover it was discovered, along with four eggs!

Lapwing nest & eggs

The Lapwing was a brave individual as within minutes she was back on her nest incubating the eggs.

Lapwing

It was a nice distraction seeing the Lapwing but we soon got back to finding where the Wheatear had gone? In the field in question there was around 20 separate manure piles, we parked up right in the middle of them all and waited. It took around an hour of waiting but the Wheatear returned to feed, and it was accompanied by at least three others!

Wheatear - female

Wheatear - male

The Wheatears never really came as close as I would have liked (possibly around 7-8 metres) which resulted in both the above images being quite heavy crops. Great birds to discover and witness at such close quarters and with the added bonus of another species to my annual list (now at 98).

Since my last post I have also made another couple of evening visits to my Tawny Owl site No 7, one visit resulted in no birds being seen at all and on the second visit one bird posed nicely for just a few seconds on one of its favoured perches. Sadly I didn't manage the flight shots that I am now after but never the less I am well chuffed with the one image I did get, below.

Tawny Owl - Site No 7

Thanks for stopping by, will catch up with you all again soon...........

Tawny re-visited, again........

I know this blog is becoming a bit one dimensional of late but who honestly could resist it, a very local Tawny Owl site where the male bird shows in the daylight on a regular basis?? Well not me!!! As they say "make hay whilst the sun shines" so I made another visit on Thursday evening, the male bird was again showing well within 10 minutes of my arrival. 

Each time I visit I am learning more about this bird and it's habits, it certainly has a few favored perches which makes my life a little easier when deciding where to park and set up. Another bonus of late is the surrounding trees are just coming into leaf which offers a more pleasing background to my images. 

I had a go at getting some flight shots as it came through the pines, dam difficult at the best of times but with low light and a fast moving subject it was tough going. 

I now have loads of portrait images of this bird so now I am going to concentrate on attempting some improved flights shots during my up and coming visits, wish me luck!!!!

Hangover owling......

Nothing much owly to report from the weekend as I was busily having a double celebration, firstly it was my beloved Leicester City finally gaining promotion to the promised land of the Premier League on Friday night and secondly it was a friends wedding on Saturday. Needless to say monster amounts of beer were consumed over the two days which rendered me in a total mess come Sunday. 

However, late on Sunday afternoon I started to come back to life and I made the effort to go out and get some fresh air. I made another visit to my Tawny Owl site No 7, it proved a long wait for the owl to show but when it did I was richly rewarded with some fabulous views. Although I managed quite a few different types of images of the bird on this visit I have selected just this one image to share. I had previously imagined the owl in this exact pose and on this very perch, but I didn't think my wish would actually come true, well not to this extent!

Thanks for stopping by, catch up with you all again soon.......................

Wow, another Tawny...............

Whilst out checking nest boxes on Sunday morning unbelievably I stumbled upon yet another new Tawny Owl site, my 7th so far this year! Although the owl was perched quite high up in a Scots Pine Tree it was only partially hidden from view and its distinctive silhouette gave it away! Luckily at the time I was on foot and not in the Landrover otherwise it would have been disturbed and possibly not seen at all? So without disturbing it from its day-time snooze I made a hasty retreat and for the rest of the morning I was hatching a plan for my return later on that evening.

I knew that when I returned in the Landrover there was every chance he wouldn't show and the better views and a chance of an image would be totally scuppered, but it was a risk I had to take. The sun was not far off setting so I positioned myself with it coming off my back and I faced towards the small spinney where I saw the owl earlier in the day. Once parked up I dare not move or make another sound for around half an hour, once I was happy that I'd been quiet enough for long enough I peered through my camo scrim and the owl was still in the exact spot as this morning, only this time it was wide awake!

He sat and watched me from the tree for next 30 minutes, then just as the sun was setting he came to life, it proved to be an excellent experience as the owl re-located onto several different perches. I was fortunate that there was still enough light left that allowed for some decent shutter speeds without the need to pump up the ISO too much.

 

With hindsight I would say it was one of the best owl encounters I've every had (and I have had a few!), a very showy (normally nocturnal) owl in pretty decent light. Needless to say I will be returning to investigate further and hopefully next time I will have some positive news about partners and breeding??

Thanks for popping by, hope you like this last set of images.

See ya soon........................

Birding & Beer

Saturday morning had me out in the Landie before dawn, my target species was Tawny Owl. This particular site is not conductive for good photography because of the direction of the sun (straight at you) apart from that is at first light, hence the reason why I was in situ very early. 

The other reason why I was out very early was the small matter of sport......... Both the teams I follow (Leicester City FC & Leicester Tigers RFC) were being televised back to back on the television starting at midday. They were both massively important games that could well decide their respective fortunes for the rest of the season and I just couldn't miss them!

Once I was positioned up near the Tawny tree it was then a matter of waiting for a "show". Sadly the period of good light came and went and no owl was seen. Even though I'd missed the best light I was being treated to quite a show by a number of other species. To my left there was a small flock of circa 10 Tree Sparrows, never seen them here before, straight on was a Green Woodpecker that was busily tapping out a new nest entrance, over to my right a pair of Little Owls were calling & mating and behind me two Buzzards were making repeated visits to a tall tree with twigs and small branches, spring was definately in the air.

Eventually I was rewarded with a brief showing from a single Tawny, great views and an image I am happy with but still the good light evades me!

The Tawny didn't show for long, so I moved on a tried for some Green Woodpecker shots. These are fantastic looking birds and a species that so far I haven't managed any images of. The Landie was positioned near to the tree, I gave it half an hour and during this period it didn't return, consequently no images. However  I am very confident that once it has chicks in the nest there will be plenty of opportunities, watch this space!!

All the time whilst waiting for the Woody to return to it's tree I was constantly being distracted by the very vocal Little Owls. This pair (my site No 214) have made home in a very unusual place? Their nest tree is a very old and large pollarded Willow in the middle of a pond! I was compelled to drive over and try for some images of them, this action obviously disturbed them as they soon disappeared out of sight once I was in position. 

As I have never managed any "decent" images of the owls at this site I was prepared to invest some time to see if they would re-emerge? The wait wasn't too long, around 30 minutes before the first owl (the male) came out of hiding. Initially it kept hidden as it must have been suspicious of my presence, but in time it ventured further out and a few images were canned.

I was very lucky as the hen owl soon followed suit and came out of hiding, she seemed the most confident of the two as much better and closer views were had of her.

Whilst with them they didn't mate again, which was really the image I wanted, but I did get this image of both of them together.

My time with the owls was all too short, I needed to depart as the games I wanted to watch were soon to be on the TV.

Overall it was a great day, a good few hours birding followed by a gallon of larger. And to round off the complete day both of my teams win, oh it doesn't get much better than that!