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!!!

Friday 13 April 2012

Redstart

The Leicestershire birding jungle drums were beating soundly this afternoon, a real gem of a bird in the form of a Black Winged Stilt had dropped into Rutland Water, although an excellent tick for most county recorders I wasn't able to make the 20 or so mile trip to see it!  

Then another text messages came through with news of a male Restart that was showing well at the village of Froelsworth. Now normally I don't go pursuing "other peoples" birds as I prefer to find my own but as this was very local I was compelled to go and have a look.

After a bit of a mix up and some wasted time as to whether the bird was north or south of the identified location I finally latched on to the three other birders whom were looking for it. Finally we re-located it and I got some superb views. 


It was certainly a handsome bird and although not an owl I really enjoyed watching this little beauty feeding avidly around a pile of horse manure.

I have been lucky enough to make at least an annual sighting of a Redstart in Leicestershire over the  past 4 or 5 consecutive years, the last time was back in August 2011 where a chance encounter was made whilst photographing a pair of Little Owls, see below.


1 comment:

  1. It's absolutely brilliant Paul. Only you could get that mate.

    ReplyDelete