From The Vault: ....Within The Hawthorn

Yes ladies & gents, another Little Owl photograph.
I couldn't resist a dip back into the Nature North East vaults to retrieve another Athene Noctua photograph, of which I have numerous I assure you.
This particular individual, who lurked within a Hawthorn tree, was actually the first Little Owl I photographed with my SLR. Previously any attempt was made using a telescope and my iPhone, which was adequate but now has been deemed obsolete.
This shot was also taken during the winter, which is one of the best times of year for shooting certain Owls and during the winter months a few hot pockets open up in the North East. This is due mostly to large roosts of Asio Owls we get here in the North East, Asio referring to the genus of two of our Owl species. These being both Short-Eared and Long-Eared Owls; Asio Flammeus and Asio Otus respectively.
These roosts are one of the many reasons I eagerly await the return of Jack Frost and his Winter cronies; don't get me wrong I have spent a lot of time with all of our Owl species this year so far, the highlight being a distant Eagle Owl in Lancashire - that was an amazing experience I had waited two months for, as brief as it was - but these large roosts are a sight indeed.

David
Nature North East

I've Got My Eye On You......

Lancashire Little Owls

It's been well over a month now since my last 'lite' blog entry and this has been down to my pretty busy schedule of work with the RSPB, as many will know I'm doing schedule 1 raptor nest protection work and I will say no more on the matter for security reasons.
Lancashire is stunning and the quiet lanes provide me a chance to take it easy and snap a shot of any local flora and fauna that I happen upon on my journey, these opportunities have been provided many times in this picture perfect landscape. The mosaic of habitats is sublime for the variety of different types of flora and fauna found in the North West. Bilberry and heather covered moorland are haunted by the enigmatic Short-Eared Owl and the calls of Cuckoo echo deep into the night, the fast flowing shallow streams which cut through the small communal villages are home to an abundance of invertebrates and in turn draw in their predators, the Common Sandpiper and Dipper to name but two. The miles of farmland that are divided up by dry stone walling and mature hedgerows are ever active with everything from Redstart, Barn Owl, Lapwing and Curlew, with Brown Hare chasing each other to and fro across the fields and Little Owl adorning the dilapidated farm buildings and mature trees, which border the narrow country lanes.

Little Owl are a much more regular sight around the farmland of Lancashire than back home in
Northumberland and North Tyneside, that being said I am aware of a good number of sites in the North East. Generally those sites involve a good amount of searching or good luck so I'm relishing in the numerous 'easy' encounters I have been having down here.
Fence posts and dry stone walls seem to be the favoured perch of the Little Owl and they like to scrutinize you as you drive past, with those large illuminating yellow eyes and that angry look they seem to have. The Little Owl death stare!
I recently noticed a parent bird taking food into a tree hollow and in turn discovered a roadside nest site. Which is happily on route to my place of work, not too high from the ground in the split of a tree trunk, tucked away from the prying eyes of everyone but a hand full of cows.
I look forward to keeping a distant eye on the young Owls once they fledge, and I'm sure the parents will be keeping an eye on me when I do so.
David

A Little Abnormality: The Curious Case Of A Local Little Owl

I was observing a pair of Little Owl today when I noticed something rather intriguing about one of the birds.
As you can see from the cropped image below, one of the owls has a deformity to the upper and lower parts of the beak, with both being unusually extended and curved.
As readers to this blog and those who know me personally will know, the petite bundle of feathers with an angry scowl that is the Little Owl is my favourite British bird. Which made the deformity even more of a surprise and a first for me.
I had heard about and seen photographs of other birds, such as Blue Tits and Parrots, with abnormal bill defects but never an Owl.
The deformity aside, this individual seemed to me to be in good health and this defect clearly isn't a life or death hindrance to the birds survival given how long it has clearly lasted with it.
It survived as a fledgling, successfully reached maturity and subsequently found a mate. This is one tough cookie and I have fingers and toes crossed that this pair will breed this year.

Watch this space....

David Dinsley

Nature North East / The Northern Owl Project

The Famous Five

Well I've finally photographed all five species of British Owl with my SLR, some it must be said better than others. Here are a handful of my shots from the past few days.

Tawny Owls At Roost

Two different locations and two very different individuals. The first being a much smaller more rufous coloured bird and the second 'urban' Owl being considerably larger and darker. Both were incredibly confiding and a joy to observe.

Long Eared Owl Pair

I practically walked into these two beauties. Amazing to see them so close and not smothered in scrub and a struggle to find.

Barn Owl Hunting On Patch
Definitely not my finest shot but in near darkness this could have been worse. Great to see Barn Owl activity on patch #2. I have my suspicions as to where it roosts and fingers crossed it has a successful breeding year in 2015. Here's hoping.
I'm thinking a barnie box would be great here, ready for 2016!

Little Owl
Although I did visit a new Little Owl site both today and yesterday, I didn't manage to photograph the birds. A pair of Jackdaw had made the Owls very weary and I only managed to get a fleeting glimpse both days. These two photographs are of the Druridge bird that I never uploaded.

Short Eared Owl

Unfortunately views today of a shortie were very brief, I did manage to get a few shots in. Not my finest by a country mile but just getting to see the bird was a thrill enough.

David

Nature North East/ The Northern Owl Project

Cheat Day

Yesterday, as the light faded and day turned to night I finally had my first Barn Owl of 2015. I was on one of my local patches and it appeared from a plantation to the west and flew at times within 30 feet. Unfortunately it didn't hang around for much more then five minutes and the lighting wasn't great for photography (understatement) but I did manage a few shots. 

Safe to say these are the best of a truly bad bunch;

So after the excitement of the Barn Owl sighting I wanted a quick fix today, a cheat day if you will. So I drove up the coast and visited a regular Little Owl haunt and as ever noticed the yellow eyed phantom glaring at me from his perch. After a few minutes in his company I headed back towards home and visited one my local Little Owl pairs. 

Only one bird was seen out of the two, buts thats the norm in all honesty at this location.

All in all a relatively straight forward morning and if anything a little bit of a cheat, I do spend a lot of my spare time looking for fresh Owl roosts and hotspots so a cheat day is okay every once in a while.

Tomorrow I'm hoping for the full five species in one day.........wish me luck!

David

Nature North East/ The Northern Owl Project

"Is he back again?!"

The Watcher On The Road

The North East is renowned for its folklore & legends, this blog concerns that of the legend of the Druridge Little Owl, an enigma, a silent sentinel and a secretive inhabitant of the country lane.
Now I say 'Owl' but what I should say is Owls, after all I've heard there is at least three known to inhabit the area!
Yes, the Little Owl that are said to haunt the old lane are spoken of in birding circles but its finding them that's the problem. I've tried a handful of times before and seen nothing, though its very likely that a pair of bright yellow eyes were watching me every time.

Early this afternoon I struck gold instantly and finally managed to get a great view of the watcher on the road. I approached slowly, methodically and positioned the car alongside this beautiful bird. It seemed calm, not phased by myself or the car and more focused on the slight breeze in the air.

I'll not bog this blog entry down with writing, I'll simply let the photographs do the talking for me.

Enjoy

David
Nature North East/ The Northern Owl Project

The Northern Owl Project update #2

'A wise old owl sat in an oak

The more he heard the less he spoke

The less he spoke the more he heard.

Why can't we all be like that wise old bird?'

Its been a few weeks since my the last update on the Northern Owl Project, and since then I've spent most of my free time following up leads and looking for Owls and Owl roosts, as well as working on a mission statement and document to clearly layout the agenda and aims of this project.

This statement will be available to anyone who would want it upon release and will also be sent directly to bird ringers in the North East, allowing for them to be aware of the project and hopefully get involved with it.
The next step beyond that point is to eventually apply for funding, which is in all honesty quite daunting but I believe with enough research and support its absolutely achievable.

A big thank you to everyone who has contributed their owl sightings over the fast few weeks, a clear picture is now starting form over distribution of each species across the North.
I urge anyone reading this to continue to contribute information to the project, its most definitely invaluable.

My recent work on a private site by request has yielded success with the discovery of a mass of Long Eared Owl Pellets in two spots on the site. Both sites contain large numbers of pellets and are overshadowed by a nest, coincidence? I doubt it. These are LEO breeding sites, I was aware of them breeding in the area but to finally find at least two of the breeding nests is an instant positive.
Will they breed in the same areas in 2015 I don't know but I'll be monitoring the area to find out. Ideally I would like to put up some baskets to encourage breeding should these nests be neglected.
Below are a few photographs of said locale.

 

David
Nature North East/ The Northern Owl Project

A Shelter From The Wind

On Thursday I was requested to look for signs of Owls on a private Northumbrian site, prior to this I had time to have a quick pit stop on a local hotspot.
It was a fresh cool morning, the sun was shining down upon the North Tyneside landscape and the wind howled across the open spaces. I took the scenic route to the hotspot and enjoyed the drive, whilst listening to some good music, an essential to a good drive in the car in my opinion. I drove out of Whitley Bay and took the road west through the ominous Hartley Lane and past the Beehive Pub.
I ate there with my better half last week and I highly recommend it, great food, a cosy setting and goats, yes, they also have goats. Pretty strange to me, considering I always envisage goats as somewhat satanic. Anyway I digress...
It took me about 20 minutes to reach the location, I parked up the car and grabbed my necessities, my camera and Bins.
After a slow and steady approach I noticed the Male Little Owl perched upon its regular spot sheltering from the harsh winter wind. As always I was constantly watched, its safe to say this little chap doesn't like intrusion for long and after a short amount of time he hopped into his stone lodgings, out of the wind and out of sight. I know his routine and knew after about fifteen to twenty minutes it would reappear but I didn't want to pry for too long and cause the bird to feel cautious and unhappy in my presence. The female did not show, she roosts deep within a rocky hollow and I've only seen her once. She is however more confiding and not so weary.
I only spent a little while in the area before returning to the car, from this point I took the road North to start my days work on my conservation project; The Northern Owl Project.

In the words of Bilbo Baggins, the road goes ever on.....

-David

A (very small) Pair Of Little Beauties

Evening all, it's late so I'll keep this one short and sweet!
As regular readers to this blog and my Facebook page will know I have begin the process of creating an Owl Conservation project titled; The Northern Owl Project, which aims to conserve our 5 native species of Owl throughout the North East. A large part of this project is public involvement, as most of you will know I ask for any of my followers or anyone aware of the project to report any sightings to me directly; Species, location, number of birds and if they breed in the area.
On Saturday I was contacted regarding a sighting of a Little Owl pair, I visited the location on both Sunday and this afternoon.
On Sunday I only seen one Little Owl, today I noticed the first Owl in the same spot as yesterday and as daylight turned to dusk the second (larger) individual came out of its hidden roost.
Brilliant!!
This site already contains a tree mounted Little Owl box, hopefully I can get in touch with whomever put that box up, I assume the landowner, and perhaps work with local ringers to have the birds ringed. That is if they aren't currently being ringed anyway.
Due to the distance I kept, these were a weary pair of birds, and fading light, the photographs I took aren't fantastic but I have attached a couple below.  This will be a site I check at regular intervals now and I'm hoping to make time to go early on a morning and catch them soaking in the first of the Winter sun.

David
(Coming soon an update on the The Northern Owl Project.....Watch this space)

A Tale of Two Shorties

I had a few hours to spare on Thursday, it was a bright but windy day, so I took a visit to one of my regular owl haunts. 

This undisclosed location, in my opinion, is one of the most reliable spots in the North East for views of owls. You do of course have to know what your looking for and where, you could wander around aimlessly expecting to see one and not see a thing, then again  you could strike lucky.

From the moment I arrived, the locale was teeming with passerine activity; Blue Tits and Great Tits singing and flitting through the scrub and trees.

Redwing, Fieldfare and Blackbird foraged around the horse paddocks, always keeping their distance, whilst Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting hung around the pathways and small hedgerows.

Unfortunately the Little Owl pair eluded me yet again. That's the fourth time that's happened, perhaps I'm not looking hard enough. Though I have been informed by a fellow birder that at least one of them was spotted on New Years day at dusk. There's hope yet.......fifth time lucky? 

I continued on and walked towards the regular Asio owl roosts, due to time constraints I bypassed the regular Long Eared/ Asio Otus roosts as they take more to find in the dense hawthorn thicket.

Whilst walking past the plantations and hawthorn scrub, I watched a Jay foraging, always a treat.

I started walking across the fields, observing a covey of 16 Red Legged Partridges take off and land further across the field. I kept scanning fence posts and hedge lines as I marched on, I slowly approached a regular roost site and in the distance I could see a pale brown mass. 

Using my binoculars after a few slow steps forward I could confirm this was a large Pale Short Eared Owl/ Asio Flammeus on a very popular perch. This is a sizeable individual and the most notable feature are the stunning bright yellow eyes which seem to be constantly scanning you.

After another slow wander closer I noticed another darker shape, higher up and to the right of the first Shortie. I recognised this individual, its a much smaller and darker bird than the first owl, and I've seen it before on this site just a few weeks back. Both birds seemed rather comfortable in my company and even the presence of a cocky Stoat running about in the field below them, with its prey, didn't deter them from their roost.

As you can see on the above photo, the second shortie is clearly a lot darker and was a much more wary bird, never taking its bright yellow eyes off me and always keeping its small tufts erected.
The larger bird was much more relaxed, snoozing every now and again and looking around at the noisy blackbirds in the area, always keeping its tufts up just in case.
What a privilege it was to see two Short Eared Owls at roost.

Have you seen a Short Eared Owl in the North East?
If so, get in touch with The Northern Owl Project and I will log your sighting into the database. Email me directly at david.dinsley@live.co.uk or inbox my facebook page.

David

The Northern Owl Project/ Nature North East

The Northern Owl Project update #1

First of all, I would like to thank everyone that has been in touch and sent me their Owl sightings its fantastic. It's so exciting to me on a personal level to see more and more people come forward and get involved with the project.
Remember to check out my Facebook page and if you have any North East Owl sightings inbox the page or e-mail me directly at david.dinsley@live.co.uk

The database is swiftly forming a picture of North East hot spots, with key areas being the Northumberland coast and County Durham, which is an amazing county for all five Owl species. The limestone landscapes and old quarry's almost lend themselves to Owls.

Today I attended a meeting with Ian Kyle, head groundsman at Arcot Hall & Golf Course for thirty two years, I bumped into Ian a few weeks back whilst scouting for Little Owl nest box locations. A chance meeting led to him asking me to put up boxes around the site of the golf course, an area that he has personally had many encounters with Owls.

We discussed current species on site and he took me around different locations where Owls were regularly seen by himself, staff and golfers alike.
Amazingly I have been given permission to do what I want on site, and I can't wait to get started. **Remember that if you are putting up an owl box that you get permission of the land owner.
The Course is riddled with small plantations of scrub and tree, areas of woodland and sections where the greenkeepers have left the grass to naturally grow, creating a perfect space for owls to hunt.

Next Thursday if possible I want to go back across and give the site a full inspection, looking for roost sites, possible old nest locations, signs of any owl activity and of course any owls that are active or roosting on that day.
What an amazing opportunity to be given, made even better because my local wildlife patch borders the land.
The question is, should I consider this an extension of my patch? ;)

Stay tuned for my next update :)

David
The Northern Owl Project

Coming soon

A Tale of Two Shorties.......