Turning Blue!

I'd been waiting and hoping for a few weeks that it would come and on Saturday night my wish was granted and a good drop of it too..............SNOW!!! We don't get a great deal of it here in Leicestershire so when it arrives it's a bit of a novelty, it normally comes and goes within a day or two so the opportunity for really "wintery" images are very limited. 

To my delight on Sunday morning there was a pretty good covering, a good few inches I reckon? I needed no further encouragement, it was time to unleash the beast!! The beast being my trusty four wheel drive Landrover, just perfect for these conditions.

Upon arrival two reasonable close owls were located, trouble was they weren't flying around as I'd wished, they were roosting on the ground!! The next hour was spent waiting for them to take off, but they didn't want to play ball. It was starting to get very cold (and boring!) so a change of plan was needed. I decided to see if I could get some shots of them on the ground. So as not to unnecessary spook them the tactics I employed was to get low and creep slowly through the grass.

All in all I was laying and crawling in the snow for around 30 minutes, absolutely soaked to the skin but elated that both of the birds held firm and allowed me to get within 20 feet or so of them, it was utterly brilliant to be so close to such majestic birds. Every movement I made was done painfully slow, but it worked as the birds didn't flinch and I was well rewarded with some "different" wintery SEO images.

On the way home I located my first new Little Owl territory of the year, site No 204! It was sheltering inside a hole in a roadside tree. Sorry it's a pretty boring image but I wasn't going to hang around and wait for it to do something different, I was far too cold and only minutes from getting frostbite!!

A new bird and a new site, I will return to study him with more vigour on a warmer day!.

Further on from the new Little Owl site and nearer to home another roadside owl was spotted sheltering amongst the ivy at my site No 34. Although my fingers were numb and turning blue there was still just enough feeling in them to grab this image.

Crawling through the snow in "normal" outdoor clothes is not something I would recommend doing, but the cold and uncomfortable feeling from that day are now just distant memories, unlike my images they will remind me of that day for a long long time to come!

A Pair Of Pairs!

A bit of good news from earlier in the week, new Little Owl site 139 was located whilst driving home from the office. The news comes late as I am still having problems with my PC and I have had to revert to using another and the image processing and blogging has proved to be a dreadfully laborious task.

The owl in question was first noticed flying low down in a roadside ditch, I turned around and soon re-located it sitting top side of a hedgerow. A bit of a fidgety bird, it just wouldn't settle long enough for me to grab a record shot. However, I persevered and eventually nailed an image when it finally settled in a roadside tree.

Site No 139, nestled down nicely in a tree trunk crevice.

This Kestrel offered some nice views whilst watching the owl.

Not a lot to report from today's venture out in terms of the local owls, the awful weather conditions have really put a dampener on things and only two different pairs were prepared to show themselves.

The first pair were out braving the elements at Site No 92.

The resident pair also showed at Site No 34, amoung the snow showers.





Todays intention wasn't really to see owls, good job really!!! It was to survey some new areas that hopefully have the potential for Barn Owls and boxes, and yes some excellent areas were noted. And what was even more encouraging was evidence of roosting owls was found in a couple of old barns in the form of some  pellets!....... I guess it won't be long before I have a box or two up in this area!!!!

Icy Owl.

What with every thing that has being going on just recently I completely forgot to upload these icy owl images from a few days ago. This very obliging owl was located at my site No 34 sunning itself  among the frosty branches of its nest tree.

The light levels were just fantastic, albeit the temperature never rose above minus 5 degrees C and with the car window open it was bloody freeeeeeeezing!!!!!

Good things come in 3's!

Yesterday was horrid damp and overcast and really good for nothing apart from maybe sitting in the pub and watching the footie.! However, during the day I had three good pieces of fortune. The first "good thing" came after fruitless visits to several sites and seeing nothing I then stumbled across a tiny oasis deep in the south of Leicestershire where the cloud broke for a while and the sun managed to break through. 

I was at site No 34 near to Gilmorton and the resident pair of owls were out sitting in the nest tree.

Owl No 1, the female.

The female again.

The male bird.

All was going well, both owls were relaxed with my presence as I leaned out of the car window snapping away, we all seemed to be making the most of this little pocket of sunshine. Then all of a sudden the male bird squawked out his alarm call and they both flashed out of sight and into the nest hole!!! How bizarre, I couldn't work out why they had done that? I'd made no sudden movements and the area was deathly silent!!

Then I understood, in the adjacent field we had a visitor, a buzzard had moved in and landed on a nearby fence post. Even though it was a good 50 yards away the Little Owls were having none of it and scarpered!!!

An unwelcome visitor! 

The untimely arrival of the Buzzard put paid to seeing the owls for a while so it was time to move on back into the gloom. I finally arrived at a farm in Lubbesthorpe, I was greeted by the landowner and the second "good thing" happened. He was aware of my up and coming Barn Owl box project and wanted to support it, to the tune of £100.00, what a result and what an absolutely fantastic gesture!!!

The third and final piece of "good luck" occurred whilst myself and the land owner walked across one of his fields to check out a Little Owl box I put up a few weeks ago in a solitary Oak Tree. As we stood under the tree looking up at the box a Little Owl popped out and flew off! Fantastic, another new site (No 134) and it was using my box, sadly no images as I had left the camera in the car!

The box in question (taken at time of erection).

What a superb day, my luck eventually ran out though, the lottery tickets I purchased on the way home proved to be a waste of money!!!!!

Out of the mist!

Whilst driving home last night I decided to take a slight detour and stop off at my site No 34, I've only ever previously heard owls at this site and the last encounter was months ago!

So when I pulled up and observed the area, I wasn't very hopeful of making my first ever sighting as the valley was cloaked in strange hanging mist, see image below.   

Unperturbed I drove down and parked up, there was this weird eerie feeling about the place, quite surreal really.  The lack of visibility seemed to heighten the senses, after a ten minute wait the silence was shattered, curdling through the gloom came the screech of a Little Owl. 

It was coming from the general direction of the old barn,  then it appeared!!!! I could just make out the owls  ghostly silhouette on the barn roof, brilliant my first ever sighting albeit a pretty dam poor one! 

I did manage this single image before it flew off, not good of the owl but it gives a sense of the atmosphere........very spooky!!!

The tally increases!

A very long work day today, an early start, 4 customer calls later and 258 miles under my belt I found myself re-entering Leicestershire at around 4.00pm. The light levels were poor but armed with camera in the car I was hoping to see the owl at site No 34 near to Gilmorton, a bird I haven't seen so far this year!

Half a mile before site No 34 I spotted a Little Owl sitting at its nest hole, after breaking hard, reversing and messing about getting the camera and settings ready I only had the time for one image (below) before it disappeared into the tree, but hey who cares about the image quality it was another brand new site (No 132).

Site No 132, a poor quality image but a record shot never the less!

Absolutely overjoyed about locating the new site I continued for the further half mile along the road not really bothered whether the owl at site No 34 showed or not!!! I pulled up near to the tree where I saw it last (Nov 2009) opened the car window and waited........

The light had almost gone, if it was going to show this was the perfect time for it to emerge........if it was still here? And it was, and with its mate! The light levels were so poor I had to use flash to attain an image but they didn't seem bothered!

My first viewing and image of the pair at site No 34. 

What a superb 20 minutes, confirmation of a pair at a site where I haven't even seen a single owl so far this year and a new site! This keeps up my streak of finding at least one new Little Owl site every month since August 2008, long may it continue!