A Blast From The Past!

Due to just having a busy life and the clocks changing recently getting "owl 'n' about" this last week has proved a bit difficult. Therefore I have decided to upload a few of my Little Owl images taken from before this blog was started. Nothing particular impressive but just a small selection from my 1,000's of Little Owl images.

A juvenile from a site 31, very local to where I live, very confiding bird.

Getting a decent flight image has proved extremely difficult, this I suppose is one of my "better" attempts from site No 19.

An adult owl out hunting for its hungry brood, a morsel of a Caterpillar can just be made out in its beak.

Another "flighty" shot, a shame the sun was in the wrong direction!

Another very confiding juvenile, it is sometimes amazing just how close they will let you get!

I just found this image a little comical, the Little Owl will make use of almost anything for a perch!

    

And finally one of my very favourite images, this was the first really close up view I had from my mobile hide.

Hopefully my commitments will ease slightly over the next week allowing me to get back out there and find whats being going on!

Little Owl Ringing

On Monday night just gone I invited some members of the Charnwood Ringers Group over to south Leicestershire to accompany myself and my mate Daz around some of my local Little Owl sites. From previous investigations I knew of 5 easy accessible sites that had "Pullus" in the nest, apparently this is the proper terminology for juveniles still in the nest, you learn something every day.......or so they say!.

The intention was to ring the Pullus, obviously the ringing can only be done by qualified and licenced individuals, hence the Charwood Ringers were in attendance. Each ring has its own unique identity on it and if ever the owl (with the ring on) was encountered again it would help to provide vital information on the birds age and movements.

Here we can see the gathering at the first location not far from Kilby Bridge, we were at my Little Owl site No 91 and the only occupied breeding box this year that had any success. 

We had a real good start to the evening and a bit of good fortune at this site, when the door to the box was opened there were  three owls inside, two youngsters and the adult hen owl.  All three were taken out and placed carefully inside a cotton retaining bag. These were then hung up inside the Landrover, one by one the owls were taken out of the bags, they were checked over, weighed, measured and finally rung. It was quite surprising how calm and struggle free the birds remained at all times.

All the vital statistics were documented, here you can see the adults birds brood patch. Apparently in the breeding season the hen bird loses her lower breast feathers, her veins are then closer to the skin surface which in turn allows her to regulate the eggs temperature whilst conducting her incubating duties....another thing learnt!!!!

Ringing and measuring the adult bird, yes the pliers look quite terrifying, but rest assured they are a precision piece of equipment and cause absolutely no harm to the birds what so ever. The correct way of handling and holding the bird is clearly demonstrated in these next two images.

 Weighing the bird whilst it remained inside the retaining bag.

Studying the data!

 Juvenile little Owl, post ringing and just before being returned safely to the nest box.

The next location we visited was my record breaking seven egg site at Whetstone, site No 31. Good news and bad news here. The bad news was, only four pullus had survived so far, but the good news is they are all very healthy, fighting fit  and very very cute!!!

By now the evening was getting on and the light drawing in so we made a quick dash over to Gilmorton to check out the third location, site No 107. After some slight difficulties with a very tight entrance hole the 3 juveniles were rung and quickly returned.

It was whilst at site 107 I had my first go at ringing, a little awkward at first but I soon got the hang of it............with some expert instruction of course!!!!

Yours truly with my first rung Little Owl, first of many hopefully!

After all was complete at site 107 we drove only a few hundred yards up the road to site 92, here we successfully rung another 3 juveniles. It was now 9.30pm and there was still one more site to do, we made a final dash over to the Broughton Astley/Cosby village boundary and site 35. Here we rung another 3, by the time we had finished it was completely dark but that didn't deter Daz having his first go at ringing, judging by his smile he enjoyed it too!

After all was complete we all retired to the local pub for a very rewarding couple of pints, it was a really enjoyable and very educating evening with a total of 16 Little Owls being rung.

Many thanks to the four members of the ringing group who gave up their time to come and help me.

Charnwood Ringers - L to R, Nigel Judson, Chris Flint, Andy Smith and Neil Hagley.

Gotta Lens!

After a few weeks of frustration in having not had my "long lens" and consequently no owl images my good mate John from Countesthorpe lent me his, a Canon 600mm prime with all the associated goodies. Now this is a serious piece of kit, worth in the region of £8,000.00..........yes you read it right, EIGHT GRAND!!!!!!!! It oozes quality and god dam is it heavy, a couple of pit ponies wouldn't go amiss with the helping to carry it! Oh my god, what if I bust it, what if I drop it, what if an owl craps on it!!!!! If any of the aforementioned ever occurred I'd have to go and see my bank manager to get me out of a predicament that would give me pain in the wallet for years to come!

For that reason the lens has remained securely in its case and in my house for the last 3 days. I have been weighing up all the pros and con's on weather to take it out into the field or not. Anyway, yesterday (Saturday) I was out with the renowned wildlife photographer Andy Rouse (a really nice and very knowledgeable bloke), we spent all morning and part of the afternoon checking out some of my owl sites with a view to selecting a few for a couple of weeks time when we are going to put in some serious hours .

After Andy left I realised my appetite for some owl photography had really been whetted so I loaded up the Canon lens and headed off to my "7 egg site". Upon arrival at the site I bumped into "Skev" (his blog can be accessed on the column on the left), he had been out bush shaking (or some thing like that?) and he had a nice collection of caterpillars and larva in little plastic tubes. We chewed the fat for 20 minutes or so before he went on his way, I then set up my portable hide and out with the lens. Oh I forgot to mention that a few days ago I purchased a new camera body (Canon 40D) from my good mate Nigel Spencer (his blog is also accessible on the column on the left) . Now this was my first run out with the new body and boy o boy was I going to get some great images especially as I had the Canon lens attached to it!

I sat quietly in anticipation waiting for the owls to show, I waited and waited and waited.............Nothing!!!! What a bloody anti-climax, here I was, all the gear (but not much idea) waiting for the final piece of the jigsaw to fall into place..........so where were the bloody owls?????

After what seemed an age and no show owls I decided to call it a day and pack up. I'd just taken the lens off the tripod (with the help of a block and tackle!) and sods law kicked in......there was the little blighter right in front of me at the nest entrance! No time to mess around with tripods and the like, I quickly lifted the lens, biceps bulging and rattled off a few images. 

   

He then flew up into the tree giving me "the stare"

Not the best images I've ever taken but considering they were taken hand held I am very pleased. I'm sure it won't be too long before I'm owl n about again with the new kit...............can't wait!!!!!

7th Heaven!

Nothing much doing yesterday due to the poor weather conditions, I did however make the effort to go and check out the site with the incredible SEVEN eggs! I was secretly hoping that she hadn't finished laying and maybe an eighth or even ninth egg! After checking the site out the hen bird was found sitting tight and what a disappointment, she still only has 7 eggs...........some people are never satisfied!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all the eggs are fertile and go on to hatch, there's going to be a need for a plentiful food supply as the parent owls are going to be very very busy keeping them all fed. If all goes well there is going to be some fantastic sights when they start to emerge from the nest hole, the  photo opportunities to come will be fantastic........I'll be in seventh heaven!

RambOWL

Managed to get a few hours out this afternoon and after visiting 10 local sites the running tally of owls seen or heard was.................ZERO!!!!!! I know the weather was real crappy with the wind and driving rain but you'd of thought little owls were made of tougher stuff than this, what a bunch of whimps!!! Apart from that is............ a pair of tough little blighters over at Whetstone!

These guys saved the day for me, I'd only been waiting around 10 minutes when the first bird poked its head out of the nest hole.

This guy was made of tough stuff, he soon came out and braved it in the wind and rain, he was the owl equivelent of Rambo!

And then things got even better proving every cloud does have a silver lining, his other half came out to brave the elements too!

The pair of them moved around the tree for a few minutes offering some good views,

Concidering the poor conditions, low light levels and high ISO's some of the images came out ok?

Site 31, Whetstone - Crossways Farm

Stake Out.

Yesterday on the whole was a poor day for little owl viewing, of all the sites visited (20ish) birds were only showing at 6 or 7 locations. I have come to the conclusion/excuse (and I'm sticking by it!) is that little owls just don't like the wind! So first thing this morning I was in a dilemma because it was actually windier than it was yesterday.  So should I do as yesterday and visit loads and loads of sites and just hope I get lucky with the odd sighting and distant photo or should I select one site and sit it out? The latter was the chosen option and the selected site was a local one over at Whetstone.

After waiting around an hour my invested time was paid off when this bird appeared at the nest hole entrance

He popped out and flew around for a few minutes, dooohh still can't nail that owl in flight image!!!

After the little flying display I think he realised he'd be far warmer back inside the tree.

Site 31, Whetstone - Crossways Farm

Owl and about 7/3/10

The light levels this morning were absolutely fabulous for photography, so it was out to a few local sites to see what was about. Although very bright and sunny it was bloody cold, thank goodness I had my Benny hat with me!

First port of call was Crossways Farm at Whetstone, after observing the site for 10 minutes or so two birds were located feeding in the bottom of the hedgerow, the strength and direction of the light was perfect for some fast shutter speeds (my lens is a bit slow unless the light is very very good), so I decided to sit it out in Benson (my pet name for my Landover) and attack my nemesis...............owls in flight!

Site 31, Whetstone - Crossways Farm

After a short wait the birds accepted my presence and started to feed in the pasture, this one was presumably looking for beetles and grubs.

Site 31, Whetstone - Crossways Farm

I had one opportunity to nail the flight shot and this was the result, I'm pretty pleased with it although I had to crop the image quite a bit due to the distance I was from the bird, this has obviously resulted in a reduction in quality (oh for a fast canon lens).

Not sure if it is just a Leicestershire phenomenon but seemingly from nowhere the buzzard has had a remarkable increase in its numbers recently. Only a decade or so ago if I saw one it would have been a real one off and a talking point for the rest of the day, nowadays if you venture out into the countryside it is virtually impossible not to see one. However, as popular as they are I am finding them difficult so and so's to get a decent image of. So when I pulled up at a little owl site at Kilby today I couldn't resist capturing an image of this handsome guy.

After the buzzard had buzzed off it was back down to the business of little owls, I drove right upto the nest tree, (of which incidentally I have recently put up a nest box) and bingo a pair was in residence capturing the morning sun right next to my box!!! This image (below) was captured before they decided I had ventured too close and off they went!

Site 91, Kilby - Wayside Farm

The next location was where "scabby the owl" could be found (see my very first post) but to my surprise he wasn't around, but his other half was!! As you can see (below) she was at the nest hole entrance watching me!!!!

Site 16, Kilby - Newstead Farm

Next stop was Rose Farm site A, although a little obscured by the branches the resident bachelor owl was located sunning himself in the apple tree.

Site 37, Countesthorpe - Rose Farm Site A

On my back I decided to call in again at Crossway Farm to try and nail that "in flight" shot that I am so desperate for. This time both birds were located in the nest tree cuddled together and seemingly happy to pose for the lens albeit they were not flying around though!

Site 31, Whetstone - Crossways Farm

Just as I was pulling away one of the birds flew down onto one of the fence posts and stayed there long enough for me to get this final shot of the day.

Site 31, Whetstone - Crossways Farm

An excellent couple of hours owling where 6 birds were seen at 4 different sites and some images that I am well pleased with.

Reminder Of Summer.

Today I made a trip to Bragate Park to follow up a good tip from LROS (Leicester Rutland Ornithological Society) membership secertary Ken Goodrich that he had sighted Little Owls in and around an old oak tree near to the ruins. Upon arrival the quite pleasant flutters of light snow showers turned to a freezing slush that stung the face into a red raw blister, that was it

.............the little owl search was aborted!

So after returning and having nothing to post I decided to try and warm myself up by uploading an image from last spring of a juv little owl enjoying sunnier times!

Site No 31, Whetstone - Crossways Farm. (click on image for higher quality picture).