JUST THE NEWS WE WANTED.

Those of you that follow my blog will have seen that we back in March had our Barn Owls disappear after some confrontations with a pair of Kestrel. 

This also happened two years ago but on that occasion the Male Barn Owl killed the Male Kestrel.

This year we had all the problems with the Kestrel landing on the box and eventually entering the box, obviously the Barn Owls had enough and I took it they had fought and then after this we saw nothing of either the Barnies or the Kestrel, I had the opinion that both Males had killed each other but then last Friday the 21st of June, I was out late in the garden and suddenly a Barn Owl appeared in the doorway of the smaller box, I managed a quick image and I was then checking the image to see the quality when a second bird appeared and flew. So it appears we have got the pair back.

I have been out every evening since then and seen the birds every evening even though the weather has been abysmal with a mixture of rain and wind, I'm just hoping for a good evening when I can get out in the hide and get some decent images to see if they are the same birds we had previously, which will be if the male has been ringed.  

For these images I was sat in the car about 80 metres away and shooting at ISO 22800 and hand holding the camera, hence the poor quality.


Shorter post than normal due to the Barn Owls appearing, sorry.

First sighting, Female Barn Owl.

This was on the Friday evening, after this the male came out and flew immediately away from the box, I was checking the quality of the images taken.

Female again, another evening. 

Again the female, yet another evening, the sky was full of cloud, looked as if it was going to rain very heavily and almost dark. What have I got to do to get an image of the male.
  

A QUICK VISIT TO EYEBROOK.

I decided to have a quick visit to Eyebrook Reservoir to hopefully see the Male Osprey 03/09, I actually saw three Osprey all on the far side of the reservoir, much too far to get a decent image, but I have included one of 03 anyway.

Red Kite, Opposite Stoke Dry.

This was one of four birds that all arrived together, the other three were considerably higher and I just concentrated on this bird. 

Hobby, Opposite Stoke Dry.

This bird flew into the area above the Tern rafts and was immediately attacked by the Terns, the bird then foolishly came back for a second visit. 

Mute Swan with Cygnet.

This is the same bird I had shown previously on the nest with the cygnet, it appears she has only raised the single young but good to see them both out on the water. 

Male Osprey 03/09.

This bird was flying back to the nest site with a fish for his young. He unfortunately was flying on the far side of the reservoir some 350 metres away, after this he turned to head for the nest but he came no closer.

Site 'O' Osprey Nest.

This image is taken from the nearest field entrance I can  get to the nest but you can just make out the female sat on the 'T' post to the left of the nest. The nest is 1200 metres away from the gateway.

Thank you for your visit, I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I did in the getting of the images.

ANOTHER BUSY DUTY WITH THE OSPREY.

With it being a mixture of School half term and a beautiful day, we were very busy all afternoon and then to make things even more chaotic, we had a visit from a BBC Television crew to get an up date on and film the Ospreys, not the best of timing when you have a hide full of visitors. This however all worked out very well with a really delightful camera man and a lovely young interviewer that I left Shelagh to deal with.

The young Osprey are really growing at such a rate and after so many worries about could they raise four young, I think 33 is finding it relatively easy and is also helping with the individual feeding duties as required.

This was the 30th of May and a few days later I unfortunately went down with a chest infection which really stopped all birding so my outings were curtailed.

30th May.

Male Osprey on camera post and female on the nest, Waderscrape Hide.

This was the sight when we first took over duty with the two adults.

The female then had a short flight and washed her feet after feeding the young.

Female with the four young all enjoying the warmth of the sun. Image from the television screen in the hide. 

Male returning to the nest after a short fishing trip of approx 100 metres with a small pike to keep the young happy. 

Carrion Crow, Waderscrape Hide.

This bird had a very short visit into a bush not far from the hide.

Moorhen with Young.

These three spent the most of the afternoon in the channels to the front of the hide, the young occasionally hiding back in the reeds. 

FEELING BETTER SO A QUICK EVENING VISIT TO EYEBROOK.

Feeling considerably better and having finished my course of the dreaded anti-biotics I decided to have a quick trip to Eyebrook reservoir to see what if anything was about. Unfortunately nothing much showed but on my return home I decided to have a trip down a very narrow gated road that I had visited previously and thought then how Owly the area seemed.

Mute Swan with Cygnet.

On previous visits I had seen this Swan sitting on her nest and at last I managed to get a view of her efforts, this was the only cygnet I saw but I will check again to see if any more appear,

Barn Owl, Gated Road Nr Billesdon.

These images turned out considerably better then I expected. By the time I had driven to the road and driven down and opened a couple of farm gates it was really getting dark. To then suddenly to see a Barn Owl hunting in the field to my right it was a case of pick up the camera, wind up the ISO to 15,000 plus and shoot. I guess you need some luck sometime.    

 AN EVENING VISIT TO REG AND JILL.

I decided to have a quick visit to watch the Tawny box for any sight of the young Tawnies and after a couple of hours and no sighting I gave it best, I think we will have to try a trail camera as I'm sure these owlets wont appear until after dark but watch this space.

Tawny Owl Box entrance.

At least this time I was more prepared and kept  taking trial images as it got darker.
  

You can see the marks on the entrance perch where the adults talons have marked the wood.

 ANOTHER OSPREY DUTY 
20th JUNE.

I arrived at the hide at 12.50 hrs to find wall to wall children plus about twenty adults that were normal visitors. The children were on a school visit from a village not far from Stamford  and were under the control of a couple of teachers and the Osprey education  team at the reservoir.

Each child had been given a pair of binoculars  and a small handbook that had numerous pictures of different birds and they had to find as many birds as they could and mark them in the book. One young boy came to me and asked where the Osprey picture was and I had a quick look for him and also could not find an Osprey image, so I asked Ken as to what they should do and he said on the back page are some lines, just use that and put down the birds name, the young lad looked at me and I said put down Sid, he asked why, I always call him Sid I said but also put down Osprey. He went away happy with his book and an Osprey called Sid!!!!!! 

Female Osprey,Waderscrape Hide.

Even though the young have grown a considerable amount, they are not visible in this image .

Male Osprey 33/11 , Waderscrape Hide.

He had been sitting in a dead tree on the far side of the nest but then decided to go on a fishing trip around Manton Bay. 

And eventually came much closer than usual, we having marked his position estimate he came within 150 metres of the hide which for him is very unusual.
  

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The four young Ospreys with Female.

 This image taken from the computer screen in the hide and shows how much they have grown in the three weeks since I was previously on duty.

First of the four to be ringed, this shows Lloyd holding the bird after putting a BTO ring on and also one of the Rutland blue rings that helps considerably when trying to recognise individuals. A friend when down in West Africa found the coloured ring system invaluable in finding Rutland birds.
So the four Manton Bay young are Nos. 054 {F} / 055 {M} / 056 {M} / 057 {F}.

Image courtesy of the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust.

Male Osprey back in his favourite tree with a large fish.

This is the dead tree he flew from when going away fishing, returned with this lovely trout, had his fill and then went to take it to the nest and dropped it. So had to go fishing again.

Moorhen, Waderscrape Hide.

This bird kept busy looking after the two young shown below. 

These are I'm sure the same two birds I have sown above taken three weeks ago and also have really grown. 

Two other Moorhen then had a set to in one of the channels to the front of the hide, 

This lasted several minutes. 

Then a Mallard flew and splashed through the middle of them and broke up the fight. 

Common Spotted Orchid.

This beauty was flowering alongside the track down to the hides.


Thank you for your visit, I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I did in the getting  of the images.