After The Storm - on Friday 24th February, 2017

Pal John and I didn't have our usual Thursday afternoon out on 23rd February as Storm Doris held this area in its grip throughout that day with rain, and winds up to 100 km/h, and the recommendation was to avoid all unnecessary travel. 

By the Friday morning, things were looking completely different weather-wise and, with some trepidation, I set off for John's place at around 10h45. I'd left a little earlier than usual as I wanted to check out my Little Owl Site No.02. My concern was that there is so much of the roof missing that a strong gust of wind would lift the rest of the roof off, like a kite.

I arrived at No.02 to find things looking remarkably unchanged. At first I did not notice the bird which was tucked into the edge of the end wall with just its head visible from my position. I took a few photos from the roadside, and had a chat with a gentleman who was valiantly picking up litter from the adjacent gateway.

Little Owl (Athene noctua) (male) - my Site No.02

The owl was still there when I decided to make a closer inspection of the building. As part of this process, I halved the distance between me and the owl. This resultant shot is for Noushka and Doug - it's a foot thing! I'm pleased to say the owl was still sitting there when I departed in my car.

Little Owl (Athene noctua) (male) - my Site No.02

Feeling a little more confident, I continued to John's place, encountering only minor debris on the road. It was John's turn to drive and we set off on our usual owling route so that we could check on the situation. We did see the occasional blown-down tree, and quite a few broken tree limbs. 

On arrival at my LO Site No.41 we had a major disappointment.  When John and I first became aware of this site, it was because the farmer was bemoaning the loss of a major limb of the tree that his owls resided in. The owls were, fortunately, unaffected by this. However, just three months later, we arrived on site to find that a huge part of the tree had split off, totally destroying the nest cavity. John and I quickly erected a nest box, but this was never used. The owls spent all winter over on the far side of the field, returning to the original tree in the spring of 2014 where they found another nest hole and raised young that year.

Now we arrived to find that the rest of the tree was down, leaving just the stump of the trunk, although our nest box was still in place as you can see on the right of the remains in the next image. 

my Little Owl Site No.41 - remains of nest tree

I spotted an owl fly up from the debris on the left and land in a nearby hawthorn bush, then John spotted a second one sitting on those remains.

Little Owl (Athene noctua) - my Site No.41

Little Owl (Athene noctua) - my Site No.41

It was good to see that the birds were still around and had survived the experience. We are keeping our fingers crossed that they find another home nearby, if not in the owl box. We shall be keeping an eye on things, but being careful not to disturb them at all.

As we approached a corner on a country lane I spotted a pair of Stonechat. The female kept her distance, but the male was less concerned by the car.

Stonechat (Saxicola torquata) (male)

We've only ever seen a solitary owl at my Site No.37, but this seems to be an extremely hardy bird, and out in the most unexpected weathers. When we first stopped, with the usual tree on John's side, John couldn't see the bird as it was so well hidden. In the end, I managed to point it out to him, and then went to try and get a better viewpoint.

Little Owl (Athene noctua) - my Site No.37

We stopped for our picnic lunch by my Site No.34. All seemed fine here, with both birds visible in the nest opening. 

Little Owl (Athene noctua) - my Site No.34

We saw no further owls that afternoon, and set off to Eyebrook Reservoir in the hope of seeing and photographing Kingfisher. This was not to be, but a gentleman on the bridge pointed out a distant Great Egret. At first, it was only showing by the top of its head becoming visible from time to time. Then it moved into a more prominent position. Google Earth tells me that it was 220 metres away at this point. Although this has become a relatively common bird at Rutland Water in the past 12 months, it was a noteworthy sighting for Eyebrook.

Great Egret (Casmerodius albus) - Eyebrook Reservoir

I changed my position and waited, and eventually it fully appeared, although further away by now.

Great Egret (Casmerodius albus) - Eyebrook Reservoir

A Little Egret was somewhat closer, landing at one point on the perch often used by the Kingfishers.

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) - Eyebrook Reservoir

John had a call from home to say that one of his dogs was poorly, so he needed to pick up some medication from the vet's on the way home. The Kingfisher had still not shown when we set off homeward, stopping briefly at the second stockade on the west side of Eyebrook Reservoir. Here I attempted some distant shots of Pintail and Snipe.

Pintail (Anas acuta) - Eyebrook Reservoir

Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) - Eyebrook Reservoir

There were no further sightings of note and, having picked up the medication at the vet's, we arrived at John's home at 17h00. As Lindsay wasn't expecting me home until sometime between 18h30 and 19h00, I decided to pay another visit to my LO Site No.02. Both owls soon appeared and, although there was no hanky-panky, there was plenty of calling and they did sit together for a while. Unfortunately, at this site, evening shots will always be directly into the low evening light.

Little Owl (Athene noctua) (male on left) - my Site No.02

I watched for a while and eventually they departed so I set off homeward. Five minutes later I found myself looking at a Barn Owl. What a wonderful end to the day!

Barn Owl (Tyto alba) - near Ashby de la Zouch

If it hadn't been for the upset at Little Owl Site No.41 it would have been a most satisfying day, with 7 Little Owls and one Barn Owl seen. 

Please can I leave you with a request. The raptors in UK (and in many other parts of the world) are suffering terribly at the hands of mankind - either through persecution or from environmental destruction. If you only do one thing this week please make it something, no matter how small, to further the cause of these wonderful creatures. Better still - make it a weekly target!

Thank you for dropping by.