Month off to a flyer!!!!

What a super start to the month, two more Little Owl territories located tonight that now takes my overall tally to 122! I was checking out site No 18 over at Hinckley, only 1 bird heard calling there (of unknown age), after a good half hours wait I decided that it wasn't going to show for any photo's so it was time to move on. I'd only driven for a few minutes down the lane when I chanced upon another superb looking area that just oozed owls! Open fields/paddocks, boarded by a nice thick hedgerow, loads of low fence posts and a couple of very nice looking mature Ash trees. I sat quietly giving the general area the once over when I heard an owl calling from beyond the hedgerow, I couldn't believe my luck! A 30 minute wait then produced the goods as it showed. No images were possible due to the dam branches in the way but hey ho another new site!

During my rounds I stopped off at Site No 22 near to Whetstone Gorse, although very distant both adults were out and sitting in the nest tree getting some late evening sun. Can you see them both in this image?  

I then moved over to the adjacent paddock at site No 22 where the juvs are normally located and true to form they were there again, all 3 of them! The light by now was pretty crappy but I did managed this one distant effort of one of the juvs sitting in a xmas tree.

The next new site (No 122) was located at Whetstone Gorse West, here I was driving along a real narrow lane when an owl landed on top of a telegraph pole 20 yards in front of me. It was calling out loud and making a right old racket, then to my astonishment it was joined by a second bird!, both adults. They then vanished as quick as they had appeared, I've previously checked this area time and time again and nothing, just goes to show how secretive they really can be.

Not a bad evenings owling, with birds also being seen at site  96 x 1, site 39 x 1 and site 53 x 2 making a tally of 13, hope that number doesn't prove to be unlucky!!!!!!

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.

Guarding Dads

This evenings fabulous weather got me owl 'n' about checking over a few local sites. It would now appear that the breeding season is well and truly underway in owl world. Only single birds where seen at the 5 sites I visited and these were all presumably males as the hen birds should be well tucked away by now incubating their clutches. At his time of the year the male birds are staying out of the nest longer whilst keeping a vigil very close to the nest site, so locating them wasn't too difficult.

This first image is from the site that is just 400 metres or so from where I live. It is by far the best image I have managed so far from this site thanks to the great light levels, shame about the twig!

Site 103, Whetstone Golf Course

And again at the second site the male bird was easy to find, close to the nest hole and sitting in the sun!

Site 75, Peatling Parva - Preistlands

The third site is very exposed and what little breeze there was created this nice and unusual effect on the owls feathers.

Site 22, Blaby - Whetstone Gorse

By the time I got around to the fourth site the light was going but I still managed to locate the male owl and get my best image of this bird to date.

Site 103, Willoughby lodge Farm Site B

After a good couple of hours watching the little owls an owl of a different species was located on the drive back. Not the best quality as the conditions really were by now against me but a bit of post processing has made it passable........just?

Barn Owl, a nice late surprise!

Effortless!!!!

Yep it has happened, tonight another new site has been located,  it took me an absolute age to eventually cross the line and achieve the 100 mark and not 24hrs later site 101 has been located. I feel a little bit guilty really as it was found with even less effort than site 100!!!

I'd spent the early part of the evening over at site 22 where a single bird showed well in the low evening sun. I was quite pleased with the images I'd captured but it wasn't the time for hanging around as it was Friday night and the Guinness gods were calling me!! I was no further than 30 seconds drive from home (in the rejuvenated landrover) going  along a road that I must have travelled thousands of times and by a tree that I must have gave the once over hundreds of times and without even trying there it was..........owl site 101!

I couldn't believe my luck, I pulled over and although the light levels were really poor I managed this image before the little blighter disappeared behind the hedgerow. 

Site 101, Whetstone - Whetstone Golf Club

Going back to earlier in the evening when I was at site 22, these are a couple of images that I was particularly pleased with and the latter pair were very near misses of owls in flight, dooohhhh!!!

Site 22, Blaby - Whetstone Gorse Site B

Site 22 - Worming!

Near miss 1

Near miss 2

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