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!!!

Monday 20 June 2016

Kingfisher catch up........

Its been a while since my last post, apologies on that count but any free time I've had recently has been spent checking out my owl nest boxes (initial signs are looking promising but more about that in a future post). Add to the lack of free time the fact I have been in France for the last week or so following England in the Euro's it's no surprise my blog has been dormant!

Anyway, earlier this morning (Sunday) found me out at dawn, my initial target was to visit the Kingfisher family that I have been monitoring for the last 2 months. I knew there was a chance that whilst away I'd miss the juveniles fledging the nest? Upon arrival the male was seen on his usual perch guarding the nearby nest hole, occasionally another Kingfisher would dart by and the male would drop down off his perch and follow in hot pursuit. I was initially confused by this activity but then one of the "fly by" Kingfishers landed on a nearby post and I was able to confirm that it was in fact a juvenile bird! This was great news that they had raised a family, but slightly disappointing I wasn't here to witness all the action. With the lack of sightings of the female Kingfisher I can only come to the conclusion that she must be tucked away inside the nest chamber busily laying her second clutch? 

Before the rain became too heavy I was able to spend some quality time with the male bird and captured a few images of him in various poses, below.




 

Hopefully back to my owls very soon, it's fingers crossed that all this heavy rain we are having at the moment doesn't have too much of a detrimental effect on their breeding success.

Thanks for stopping by, catch up again soon................