54 and rising!

Tonight I returned to my new site 108 at Gilmorton, I was attempting to capture my first images of the resident owls, whilst there I also wanted to try and identify the nest site and also if there had been any breeding success this year..........I was triumphant on all three counts.

After I'd parked up within the vicinity of where I saw an owl on my last visit I immediately heard the distinctive "hissing" of a begging juvenile. The sound was coming from a very large wooden shed/workshop, I surveyed it for any potential nest entrances when an adult owl exited out of a tiny cavity in the apex of the roof.  

Not the best of images but my first of an owl from this site.

  

The juvenile then put in its first appearance, it had a quick peek at me before it disappeared, it wasn't seen or heard again whilst I was there. Good news though, breeding confirmation at another site this year.

I then moved on down the road to re-visit another new owl location that was also in Gilmorton, site No 109. A single bird showed tonight but it was quite late and the light had almost but gone, sadly no evidence of any breeding success was evident.

I have now recorded a minimum of 54 juveniles at 26 different sites so far this year.

Site 108!!!

More checking for signs of Little Owl chicks last night, three more sites produced the goods.

Firstly, there was two out of the nest at site No 75 at Peatling Parva, again I located them by sitting quietly within the vicinity of the nest site and listening. After a twenty minute wait the characteristic "hissing" was heard and they were soon located in a nearby oak tree.

I did managed an image of both Juveniles but unfortunately only this one was usable.

The second location that came up trumps was site No 45 at Willoughby Waterleys. Sadly only one young bird was seen at this site....so far!! But the good news is this was the site that I dismissed at being productive this year as I saw a Weasel was seen coming out of the nest entrance a few weeks ago!

The final location that confirmed breeding success was site No 103 at Willoughby Waterleys, and this turned out to be quite a surprise! Previously I had only ever seen a single Little Owl at this site, again it was seen as I drove up the lane. It was sitting on a broken limb in a Weeping Ash (apparently this type of tree is quite rare!!) it sat motionless as I managed a few images, my best of this bird so far.

 

Just after I bumped into the local land owner (Dave) and we got talking "Little Owls". He had seen the local owls and he was sure there was a pair....and they had young!!!   After a refreshing beer and a tour of his nest boxes (thank you Dave) I was compelled to go back and investigate further. I drove back to the Weeping Ash tree and parked up, by now it was 10.30pm and dark, so seeing the owls was an almost impossibility. So it was a waiting and listening game, and I didn't have to wait long! Out of the silence came a hissing,  once my eyes had become adjusted to the darkness I was able to make out 3 Little Owl silhouettes up high in a tree, 2 adults and 1 juvenile, Dave was right, there was a pair and they had a youngster!!!!

During the evening search I also stopped off at few other sites where only adult birds were seen, I did managed this atmospheric image at site No 19, hopefully chicks here on my next visit? 

And finally, some more good news from last night, Little Owl site No 108 was located, a new site for me over at Gilmorton. He was located sitting in a Pear Tree but I wasn't ready and sadly no photo, that is until my next visit!!!!

As usual, double click on any image for a larger more detailed version.