Catching up, late April.......

Hi all,

Since the finding of the White Stork a couple of weeks ago (see last post) things have somewhat settled back down to the norm. The weather of late has been a bit hit and miss but now the lighter nights are with us there has been a few opportunities to get out and about.

During early April Col Green and I made a few more Barn Owl boxes, these have now been erected in some carefully selected locations, time will tell if our strategy was creditable? We have also checked a few older nest boxes, in some the usual non invited culprits have taken up squatting rights, namely Stock Doves, Squirrels, Jackdaws and Starlings. It hasn't all been bad news though, we've also got Barn Owls in three boxes and Little Owls in a couple. It is still early days and our box checking will gather momentum in a few weeks time when Col has recovered from having his new hip fitted, oh yes he's going to be a blur as he zips up and down those ladders.........

On the owl/bird watching front I've had some superb viewings at various different locations around the Leicestershire countryside, obviously owls do dominate. Now that the breeding season is upon us the male Little Owls do seem to be easier to locate than in the winter, that is if its a nice sunny windless evening! It is still very much a waiting game and not every site has owls in residence (or not ones I've seen yet?) but when a bird does show it can be amazing just how bold they can be?

I've also invested more time over the weekends with my "church owls" (featured in a couple of posts ago). Here it is very much a case of how lucky you can get? As with the majority of my owl photography I initially spend a long time (sometimes years) making observations from distance, you get to know when its a good time to visit and also when its not! You also get to know which perches the owls prefer, I then set myself up in an advantageous position and wait.............. At this site I have gone through this same routine on many occasions and come away with nothing! However, when luck is on your side you do get rewarded for all the preparation and dedication. I'd had my minds eye an image of one of the owls perched up on a headstones, I did fulfill this objective on a recent visit but at the time I was too close and the light not so good. So another few visits were made and eventually I have got nearer to what I'm trying to achieve, this next set are not the best Little Owl views/images I've ever had but I'd like to think they are a little more interesting?

 Away from the Little Owls I have also been very privileged to have seen the Osprey hunting again at a body of water in the south of the county (no not Rutland). Mostly the views are distant but occasionally it does come a little closer and an image is attained. In this next shot the prey fish that the Osprey has just caught can be clearly identified as being a Jack Pike. 

There isn't much time that elapses without me going down to the local river and parking up with a hope of seeing the Kingfishers. I think breeding has commenced here too because only the male has been seen lately, and that is not too often either.  

As we all know now is the time when the migrants start coming in to the UK, I haven't had much luck with photographing any of them yet, however this handsome Yellow Wagtail proved to be a very confining individual and as it sang its head off it allowed me to get incredibly close!

The best bird during the last few weeks has been the on off showing of a Short Eared Owl in the east of the county. I've stood for hours in eagerness of it coming out to hunt whilst at the same time questioning my sanity as I braved the dropping temperatures and cutting winds.

But the brief and fleeting evening views were well worth the wait as it hunted back and forth in front of me whilst being bathed in the glorious golden setting sun.

Without a doubt the image of the Short Eared Owl that I was most pleased with was this next one. I was very lucky with the diffused and uncluttered background that makes the bird stand out all the better. But just as it flew past it dipped its nearest wig down slightly allowing great views of the whole of its back, in great light too!

That's all for now folks, hopefully catch up again soon......................

White Stork!!!!!!!

Col Green and I were conducting some more checking out of our owl nest boxes late yesterday at one site in the south of the county where (not too far from Countesthorpe) where we have several boxes sited. Whilst there the land owner told me and said there was a "strange white bird" walking around in one of his fields. I initially suspected Little Egret but he was adamant it was something else so I agreed to go and investigate......

We drove along some farm tracks to the last location the bird had been seen. As soon as we pulled up the bird came into sight, although distant (200 yards or so) I knew straight away that this was no Little Egret.

Blimey I was looking through my binoculars at a White Stork!!! I still didn't get too excited as it could be an escapee, from this distance no leg rings could be made out so it looked promising? I then called Col (who was checking boxes at another location on the estate) and he initially though I was pulling his leg. Ten minutes later we stood shoulder to shoulder watching the bird, it was at this stage that we both agreed this bird must be the real thing as neither of us could make out any leg rings and it was absolutely spot on for the time of year.

We then discussed putting out the news, sadly the landowner was adamant that he did NOT want hoards of folk all over his land and we had no option but to respect his wishes. We did try to work out a compromise but as the only access point and viewing location meant going right through the middle of the farm we reluctantly agreed. 

Luckily both Col and I had our camera kit with us, so after taking some distant record shots we drove along a dirt track and parked up. Our theory was the bird would hopefully work its way towards us enabling some better and closer up images. This plan worked perfectly and as the bird gorged on earth worms it did come closer and closer (50 yards would be a guess?) and the images below were bagged.

Posing nicely

Feeding on earth worms

Whilst watching the bird we did make a couple of phone calls (county recorder, LROS news line) to explain the dilemma we were in with respect to the restrictions of putting the news out, we made assurances that if there was any change we would call back. Well there was a change, sadly it was a negative one, as without notice the bird took flight and headed off high in a westerly direction.  

Flying off

So a great bird for Leicestershire, great views were had even though it was for only a short period. Apologies must be made to any birders who would have welcomed viewing the Stork, we tried our best but the logistics just couldn't be agreed.

I'll be back again soon with another post, more Little Owls I suspect!

  

Right place, right time!

Yesterday evening I was out with Daz doing a spot of "general birding" in the south of the county. We hadn't seen much of note apart from a single fly past Red Kite. We weren't surprised that none of our main target, Little Owls hadn't been seen as the weather was very intermittent,  one minute sunny the next it was pouring down.

As we ventured along the lanes of South Leicestershire we neared a body of water (no not Rutland) where we parked up to see what was about. A couple of Little Egrets at distance, a few Tufted Ducks out in the middle, plenty of Sand Martins skimming the waters surface feeding on flys, a Grey Heron in the reeds and several circling Buzzards up high.

Then out of the blue a flying Osprey came into view!!! It was flying straight across the lake towards us. Through my binoculars a fish could clearly be seen in its talons. At the time neither of us had our cameras out and before we knew it the bird had passed overhead without a single image being taken.

As the bird was flying away from us it seemed to be keeping parallel to the lane where we were parked, we were soon in the car and in pursuit.  As I drove Daz kept an eye on the bird and within a minute we'd caught it up and then overtaken it. Once we had managed and good lead we pulled up and got the cameras out, we then waited and as if to order the Osprey deviated slightly away from the fields and flew straight at and over us!!!

All of this action, from stopping the car to the Osprey flying overhead was over in a matter of seconds, luckily I have pre-set a custom function on my camera for just such indecencies, I turned the dial to this setting and prayed I'd be lucky! I did manage a sequence of 14 images with these two above images probably being the best? 

A superb encounter and a great bird to see, especially as it had a fish in it's talons. Obvious we have no idea as to where the bird was going, I suppose it could have been a bird from the Rutland breeding programme that was having a wander about (although that's miles away!) or maybe a Scottish bird still on it's way north or even better still maybe a bird that has set up a new territory in Leicestershire?

Thanks for stopping by, catch up again soon..............

Kingfishers - Still showing.

Another visit has been made down to the local river, an hour session parked up near to one of the favoured perches that the Kingfishers use resulted in two "stop offs". Initially it was frustrating as the birds whizzed up and down and didn't stop, however the female bird (orange lower mandible) did eventually oblige and posed nicely for a few fleeting seconds.

Female

I watched the male bird land on a perch further down the river, from here he dived into the water and emerge with a fish. Lucky for me he then landed on the perch right in front of me and then devoured his catch.

Male

I was surprised to see both birds as I would have thought by now they'd be sitting on eggs, especially as I witnessed them mating over a week ago?

Only a short post, catch up again soon...............

Holy Owls.......

A pair of Little Owls that I have been monitoring for at least seven years have recently been evicted from their nest location by a pair of Jackdaws. Not good news I know but after several return visits to this site I have eventually managed to re-locate the pair, in a nearby church yard. 

As with most sites that I stake out there is always an element of luck as to when the birds will show? One has to be prepared for loads of waiting around when nothing happens and this site proved to be one of the more stubborn ones! However, when the birds did eventually come out (after five visits and about ten hours of waiting in total) they did put on a great show for me.  As with most rural churches there are lots of interesting features and choices for perches around the grounds. The birds didn't disappoint at all as they landed on a variety of headstones, walls and fences. 

This unusual location offered up some quite unique photo opportunities for me, the time invested was well rewarded even though the birds only showed for about ten minutes!

Catch up again soon..............