SOME NEW AND SOME OLD.

Again the forecast for Thursday was not good and what with hospital visits and Richard having problems with one of his cars, and we having problems with our central heating it became more and more difficult to arrange an afternoon out. In the end on Friday, our plumber left at about 14.00 hrs and I left soon after and headed out to our normal area.

On arrival at Site No 1, I found a Leicestershire County Council lorry and van adjacent to the site working on clearing out all the rubbish that had collected underneath a cattle grid. 

So after a quick look I carried on towards Site No. 2 as I could see no mileage in hanging around on the chance a bird may show. 

At Site No 2, I could hear the sound of a quad bike in the field, so again head off Titus and look elsewhere.

On to site No 4 where all was at peace but no birds seen, having given ten to fifteen minutes and no birds seen I set off towards Site No. 5 where at last I saw a bird in the middle of the hedge on the far side of the field, no point in even attempting an image so I carried on through the farm towards Site No. 17 "BUT" part way down the access track I met the farmer coming in the other direction, so as normal stopped for a chat. His opening statement being " you wont see any birds down here, I've got Mick in topping the grass" after a reasonable time and his wife turning up I set off to look on the off chance again I might see a bird but nothing was in site, so off again towards Site No. 6 where all was quite but no bird evident so after a short time I set off to Site No. 7 {where we don't expect to see a bird} and carried on through to Site Nos. 9 and 10. On arrival I was met with the banging of a poster hammer on the back of a tractor, yes the farmer opposite was repairing and erecting new fencing so as you can guess, no birds evident.

So I then set off to Site No. 12, parked up and was met by a troop of about thirty ramblers crossing the field past the barn, so gave up all hope of peace and tranquility for the Little Owls and set off towards Little Owl Site No. 13, more in hope than anything else, perhaps I might see some little owls in a peaceful place or maybe world war three may have broken out at the farm, how my look had been this afternoon anything was possible.

Hence the title, the first images are the new and the others are to the dates shown.

Arrived at the Farm and by the time we got to the barn it was getting dark and the light was very poor but the results are below.

Little Owl Site No. 12.
This image was taken inside the Barn and for saying it was taken at an ISO of 25600 I am reasonably happy with the end result. It was so dark in the barn I could hardly see the bird through the view finder and the camera struggled to focus. On walking into the barn I originally saw a bird at the far end where it shot running down the beam and disappeared outside, then I saw this little fellow siting above me and got a shot, blurred so kept repeating this and turning up the ISO until; I got a reasonable result. Then I walked out side to see if I could see the beam runner and sure enough.

Here he is sat out and giving me a good looking at. This again was taken at a high ISO of 14,000.

Then suddenly the second bird came out and joined in with the "give him a good looking at" so we gave it best and returned to the farm for a cup of tea and a biccy, wonderful end to the afternoon out, {at last}. 

An Old Little Owl Site.
Not the best of images as taken on my old camera and lens.

This site was found in June 2012, but I had been seeing birds for several months previous in our garden so eventually Arthur Costello gave me the number of a little owl expert, a Mr Richard Pegler and this is how our close friendship and my cross infection with Little Owls started.

Love the bird peeping over the tile.

Awful image but love the expression.

"You looking at me"

The adult birds raised four young and when they had flown the owners had to repair the roof to stop any damage to the fabric of the building, also going up into the roof and being sure the birds had vacated the roof space before carrying out the repairs. Prior to this Richard and myself erected a nest box {thanks to Reece} in the adjacent shed and the birds used the shed for a while and then unfortunately moved on.
This image taken early August 2012.

Little Owl Site No. 10.

This image taken in April 2014.  

Little Owl Site No. 2.

Image taken June 2014.

He might be asleep but I'm watching you.  

Little Owl Site No. 5.

Image taken July 2014.

We saw this juvenile on a windy day having tucked its self well into the dead ivy and gone to sleep. We waited a while as we were not sure it had got itself stuck but it moved into another position where it felt safe.

Rutland Water Waderscrape Hide.
Reed Bunting.
Taken June 2014.
In comparison to last year we have very few Reed Buntings this year.

Waderscrape Hide, Rutland Water.

Water Vole Taken May 2014.

Swallow at Little Owl Site No. 9.
July 2014. 

Kestrel at Kelham Bridge.
August 2014.

Juvenile Robin in friends garden, Peckleton Common.
June 2014. 

Near Little Owl Site No. 4.

Cucumber Green Orb Spider male
Araniella Cucubitina Sensu Stricto.
June 2014.


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