a couple of owl pics

adult Little Owl keeping a watch over his young as they explore away from the nest area


a sad end for one local Tawny Owl

Sadly a dead Tawny on the A690 - found by Jonnystretch

On a far happier note :-

The eldest of a brood of 3 young Long-eareds

A short clip showing the 3 young reacting to a Wood Pigeon clattering past close by:-

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Another short clip showing the 3 youngsters as the light fades

 

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This clutch were delayed by 4 weeks c/p other local breeding pairs.
Theyve been out of the nest @ 5 weeks, and fly strongly, although landing's are often more like crashes ! They tend to keep to the open canopy of decidious species, Oak, Birch & in this case Ash which allows easier

still dependant upon their parents at this stage - although the this bird made a few clumbsy attempts at catching small items as the light faded.
One of his siblings flew within 15' of me after the light had gone with all manner of head bobbing, twisting & posturing, to check out the rustling from a hedgehog in the undergrowth.

Quite pleased with this iPhone scoped image :-

 

adult resting in the afternoon sunshine - by late August through to October we tend not to see much of them.

Leo ringing visit

This pair were visited recently, the young were too small for ringing. They are on average around 4 weeks behind compared with other birds in the County -

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Mr Grumpy
 (hes the middle one in the nest)

The smallest of the 3.
Cute isnt a word i thought id ever use on this blog...........

Many thanks to a local owler for the 2 images above.

heres a Little Owl :-

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and another 3 in a box - just about ready to go....