Hi and welcome to my Blog, my name is Paul Riddle and I live in south Leicestershire, UK. Back in August 2007 my quest began to locate as many local Little Owl territories as possible. The driving force was a reported decline in the uk numbers so I thought I would do my bit and conduct a study in my area. After 7 years and countless hours out in the field I have detected over 200 different sites. With a thirst for a greater understanding of the owls a more comprehensive monitoring and nest box programme then commenced. This also now includes monitoring the local and very sparse population of Barn Owls, please pop back occasionally and catch up with the life and times of my owls and any other wildlife that I come across. I hope you enjoy your visit!!!

Tuesday 8 March 2011

A quick fix!

Due to the fact that all my free time recently has being totally occupied with making and erecting Barn Owl boxes I'd started to get Little Owl withdrawal symptoms. So this evening I got out for an hour to "get a fix", my selected site was No 124 over near Willoughby, a site that I haven't visited so far this year!

I parked the Landrover up near the nest tree, got the camera at the ready and waited. After around 30 minutes the light started to fade and the first bird showed itself, it popped straight out of its nest hole and dropped down onto the ground right in front of me. It was obviously totally oblivious of my presence and it wasn't until the shutter on my camera rattled away that it realised I was there.......a very shocked Little Owl! 


Needless to say it didn't stay on the ground for long, up and away it went into a nearby tree. I then noticed the second owl had too emerged from the nest hole and was just sitting and staring at me. It posed nicely for a few minutes before it too decided that it wasn't quite sure of me and flew off to join its mate.


Not really a lot else to report from tonight's quick trip out, I'd got "my fix" the Little Owl batteries had been fully re-charge and should keep me going until the weekend?

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4 comments:

  1. Richard Pegler8 March 2011 at 20:57

    Yep! - sometimes you've just got to get out and do it!!

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  2. Jan11 March 2011 at 16:26

    Managed to see the two Little Owls at site 153 thanks to Paul's help. They are now my owls and I will try to see them on a regular basis. By a pure chance I met Paul whilst I was watching this site........what a coincidence, and I now have another local site to watch too. Thanks Paul

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  3. Paul Riddle11 March 2011 at 17:20

    From your comments Jan it seems as though you are making a "compulsive adoption" or is it an owlnapping of my owls at site 153! I'm not worried, I can see they are in good hans and will be well looked after.....Paul.

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  4. Jan13 March 2011 at 14:00

    I will cherish your owls and try to get a photo log of every time I see them. I hope they breed and produce little Little Owls for me to photograph too. I have located site 152 but didn't see anything - I will be back (as the saying goes!) Jan

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