"Hide" and seek!

Last night I took the opportunity to make the most of the glorious evening sunshine and re-visit the local Barn Owl site. I was lucky again, as the male owl put on quite a show.

Finally the light gave up on me so I packed all my kit away apart from my mobile hide, I decided to leave it in situ so as the owls would get use to its presence and maybe some closer encounters on my next visit?

Later on in the evening, Glynn the land owner sent me an image he'd taken after I'd gone, (below) it was taken at considerable distance and has been cropped some what but the antics of the owl can be clearly seen perched on top of my hide, the cheeky so and so!!!!

Rewarded

This evening I was to be found yet again sitting it out in my hide, I was back at one of the local Barn Owl sites that I monitor hoping the birds would show whilst the light was still good. It's a bit hit and miss as to whether or not they will show but one has to put in the hours if the rewards are to be reaped.   Eventually my patience was to be rewarded, it was a long wait but before the sun disappeared over the horizon the cock bird came out hunting.

I could waffle on for ages about how everything just fell into place and how lucky I was but I think I'll just let the images do the talking for me instead as this sequence are possibly amongst my best ever owl images?

Please enjoy and click on any image for larger version.

A defensive posture (below), he wasn't prepared to share his dinner with the mobbing Jackdaw!

Oh and how lucky I was.......for once!

Barn Owl family

So far this weekend I've not had a chance to get out with the camera, so I thought it was about time to give you an update on the Barn Owl family where we have the nest box cam.

In the screen shot below the whole clan can be seen, mum, dad and the four chicks. The eldest chick is now 8 weeks old, two of its siblings are just a few days behind in terms of age but are catching it up fast in size but the forth chick is still tiny! The tiny one can just be made out in the foreground of the image in amongst the white ball of fluff.

Only time will tell if they all make it to the fledgling stage, I'll keep you updated on any significant developments.

Sitting Ducks!

Only a couple of miles from where I live is a pretty large retail shopping complex and adjacent to it is a commercial park that just seems to be increasing in size by the month. Nearly every time I pass through the area another piece of greenery has been gobbled up and a "fancy pants"  office has taken its place. Now in the middle of this great grey and shiny window sprawl is a yet to be developed piece of waste/scrub land, each year it gets smaller and smaller and it is now complete surrounded by buildings, car parks and Workman's huts.

The piece of wasteland has had a good reputation in the past to see passage migrants, especially Wheatears. Each year in the spring they can usually be seen when they stop off for a few days and feed up before continuing their journey north. This year was no exception with the local birding fraternity reporting up to a dozen birds at a time. Although I had already made a couple of visits this spring I decided to make yet another quick visit and get in on the action.

Camera in hand I wondered around the perimeter of the complex and soon picked up three different Wheatears, nice to see but too far for an image. Also seen whilst strolling around were Linnets, Goldfinches, a Meadow Pipit, two Lapwings and Little Ringed Plovers. The Plovers were very active in a particular area over on the far side, so I drove around nearer to where they were and watched from my car. As I sat and observed them it was surprising just how close they were to the public footpath and the passing shoppers & workers. They didn't seem bothered in the slightest about the close proximity of the human traffic so that is when I hopped out of the car and joined the procession. Unlike most of the folk who were oblivious of the Plovers presence and passed them by I stopped as so as I came along side them, no more than 15 feet away! 

I soon understood why they were so bold, or should that be so stupid as I could make out their nest on the ground with four eggs in it!!! I know it must be instinct for these birds to return to this site year after year but surely it won't be long before the eggs are either crushed under the wheels of a parking car or trodden on by an unsuspecting passer by?

They are just sitting ducks!!!!!!

Splendid!

Since my recent success with getting some Barn Owls in flight images another couple of visits have been made. Yesterday evening was a total flop, nearly three hours sitting and waiting in my hide proved fruitless. 

So again I visited tonight to see if the doom spell would be cast again, and it wasn't! The light was utterly fantastic, and before it finally disappeared over the horizon the male Barnie came out to play.

As he swooped in and out of the big gaps in the old buildings it gave for a brilliant "dark" background whilst still being bathed in the setting sun.

I was also very fortunate that he landed on a couple of occasions too, with his dinner.

  

 I'm not sure if Barn Owl watching gets any better than this?

Chirp chirp chirp

Saturday morning couldn't have been better weather wise, calm dry and sunny, all that was needed now was some owls.... But before the day could commence and for me to operate with any proper synchronism  the first port of call was at the local delicatessen for a couple of bacon cobs (to help soak up the beer from the night before), nice and crusty with loads of brown sauce, mmmmm nice!

I was so much in need for the bacon butties I ate them immediately I'd left the shop. As I sat there in the Landrover filling my face I could hear a bird calling, maybe a Blackbird? Nothing special about a Blackbird, they are as common as muck but this sounded so close it couldn't be ignored! Chirp chirp chirp, a quick look around and no bird could be seen? As I was now re fulled and feeling somewhat better I dismissed trying to locate it and got on my way.

I drove around for the next hour or so calling in at several different sites, single owls were seen at them all at them all, but they were keeping well hidden and no photo opportunities. But something was haunting me, as I moved from site to site I kept hearing that Blackbird, chirp chirp chirp, how bizarre?

The final destination of the morning was at my favoured site No 105 near to South Wigston, here the male owl was located and he allowed for a couple of photo's (below).

Whilst I was with the owl at my site No 105 I could hear that dam Blackbird again, chirp chirp chirp? This was now getting stupid, did I really have that much to drink last night that it had now effected my hearing?

Chirp chirp chirp

Chirp chirp chirp

Chirp chirp chirp

That was it, I had to find out what the hell was going on?

I drove away from the owl site and parked up in the middle of a field away from any trees or bushes. I got out of the Landrover and it continued,  chirp chirp chirp..........

The sound was narrowed down to the front of the Landrover, I opened the bonnet and there was the culprit.......a baby Blackbird!!!!  It was precariously perched up in the bulkhead on one of the brake pipes.  

It must have been one of the brood that had fledged out of the nest the day before from my back garden and then found this so called safe hiding place away from all the local moggies. Incredibly it must have been with me all morning and was continually calling/begging for food. Whilst I was working out how best to capture it and then take it back safely it flew off!

A pretty good flier but sadly I think it was a bit too young to feed and fend for itself, I suppose nature will take its course and what will be will be.........

Catching up - Early May.

Mostly the conditions were gloomy with some periodic rain showers, however later in the day the clouds blew over to leave clear skies and some not too strong late sun.  And that just so happened to coincided with me being out! 

At my Little Owl site No 22 near to Countesthorpe the resident pair put in a brief appearance. This first image is of the hen owl, she popped out of the nest tree, had a look around and popped straight back in again!

The male owl showed for just a little longer (next image), he bounced about from branch to branch for a good five minutes before he too had had enough of checking out the Landrover and then went and joined his mate. 

The now clear deep blue skies made for a refreshing back ground.

From earlier in the week, the male owl at my site No 105 near to South Wigston. 

At long last!

It has been a long while in the capture, but at long last I have nailed a Barn Owl in flight image that I am very happy with. Captured tonight at a location in south Leicestershire and in pretty decent light too!

Click on image for larger view.

He came back around again later on, so just for good measures a perched image too, the light was then terrible so the ISO was bumped up and a bit of noise reduction made the image just about usable.



The parties over!

It was a Bank holiday weekend, brilliant loads of free time to get out there and spend some much overdue time catching up with my owls.........NOT!!!

My daughter Louise turned 18 on Sunday and as she had this massive (and very expensive) birthday bash for 120+ people in the evening and the whole of the weekend was taken up with my enforced roll of "party planner". Needless to say I wasn't able to sneak off, not even for 30 minutes as too many eyes were watching me!

So Monday morning was pencilled in for some catching up with the owls, ha ha ha what a laugh! The thumping head and dizziness from the over indulging the night before put paid to that. But come early afternoon I was starting to feel somewhat better so as the posse prepared themselves to re-visit the party venue to clear up the mess I decided it was a task far below the party planner so I sneaked off.

As I now have my beloved Landrover back I decided to visit a private and off road site near to South Wigston. In this area of land I have four different Little Owl sites but I drew a blank at them all bar one, mt site No 105. Here the male owl was located and he obliged by landing on various different perches giving some varied photo opportunities.

The time with the owl came to a premature end as the existing poor light levels soon became terrible light conditions as the clouds moved in and the heavens opened. Not to worry though, I was out long enough to allow all the party mess to be cleaned up by everyone else!

Not one but two!

I knew what I wanted on my latest venture out, a closer view of the Whinchat that I located last week and hopefully the chance of improving on my "poor" distant images, well that is if it was still around and it came close enough? Upon arrival all seemed very quiet, not a soul around, which was good but the bird activity seemed just as subdued.

After pulling up and observing the area things slowly came to life, first bird of note was a flyover Red Kite, then a distant Short Eared Owl was seen quartering in a distant field. Hmmm things were warming up, then from now where a Raven dropped in and landed on the track in front of me, no chance of an image as it was 30 metres or so away and viewing was only possible through the rain covered windscreen, I put the camera on it but I couldn't lock on the focus as it was just a black lump of fuzz. A really good bird to see anytime and I can't ever recall seeing one on the ground before. I watched it in anticipation as to what it was up to? It then took off passing close by a solitary bush and with this there was a scattering of birds, a good un amongst them too! 

The birds that were flushed from the bush were Yellow Hammers and Chaffinches, nothing special really about that but one bird that caught my eye was a male Ringed Ouzel! This was the first ever that I have found myself and a species that I have never managed to photograph before.

It didn't fly too far, just down onto the grass where it started to feed. This gave me the perfect opportunity to bag my first ever image of an Ouzel, a couple of record shots were obtained (below) I then tried to get a bit closer for some improved images but the Ouzel was having none of it! A very shy and flighty bird that didn't take kindly to my presence. I waited around for another 30 minutes hoping it would show again but no such luck.

 

Ringed Ouzel - Male

Whilst I was waiting for the Ouzel to re-show itself a male Skylark landed in the grass just in front of me, nothing special about this image or the species but it was my first ever capture of one.

Skylark - Male

All the other birds were nice distractions, especially the Ouzel but it was now time to get operation Whinchat back on track. I drove down to the area where I saw it on my last visit and parked up next to a scrubby area that was littered with small gorse bushes.

The first bird of note that came within photographic range was a male Wheatear, whilst it was posing nicely for me a second bird flew in and joined it, oh yes it was the Whinchat!!!!

Wheatear - Male

Not wanting to appear rude to the Wheatear but all my attention was now firmly fixed on the Whinchat, well it was what I came for after all. A splendid male bird and this was the closest I have ever been to one of these whilst  having my camera in the hand.  

I rattled off 20 or so images before I think the Gatling gun sound of the shutter spooked it! I was overjoyed...........mission accomplished!

Whinchat - Male

On the way home I stopped off at one of my Little Owl sites near to the village of Foston, it's been a while since I last saw one and needed a fix. True to form a single bird was eventually located perched up high doing what Little Owls do best.......nothing! 

As I was walking back from seeing the owl a little brown job caught my eye as it was fluttering around on the edge of the oil seed rape crop. I managed to get a fix on it through my binoculars and I couldn't believe what I was looking at, another Whinchat!!!!

The only way I could get close was to drive up the private road that was adjacent to the field. This I did but not before my camo screen was placed over the window. Once I'd got into the desired position the bird flew off into the field, too far away for an image.....dough! As I watched it kept fluttering up catching insects midair and then landing back down on the taller crop stalks. My luck was in because as it continued to feed it was progressively getting closer.

Then my one and only chance finally came, it landed close and was in full view, snap snap snap.....

I am really pleased with the outcome of what I consider to be one of my best ever images, not just because it is Whinchat, but because of the circumstances of its find and the glorious setting/backdrop that the rape field offers. 

Barnie Babies...

The weekend was a complete washout, high winds and driving rain kept me firmly indoors. This gave me a great opportunity to catch up with the Barn Owls where we have a nest box cam.

I sat and watched the goings on from the comfort of my warm and dry office, although there wasn't much to see really as the hen owl just sat there not moving. So during this period of total inactivity I went back through some of the recording from earlier that day. All the recordings were the same, the hen owl just sitting there static! Then I started viewing a recording from 4.48am and to my surprise the hen owl wasn't to be seen, but look what was then in view.....3 chicks!  The screen shot below shows what appears to be a clump of white fluff in the middle, but be assured there is at least 3 chicks there and a yet to hatch egg.

I now understand why she hasn't been moving, she was keeping her little brood warm. Although the weather conditions certainly don't favour the Barn Owls in their hunting at the moment they seem to be doing OK.

Jewel in the crown.

I have been a bit lazy of late, maybe the longest I have gone between posts on this blog? For good reason though, rain rain and yet more rain! It has made it almost impossible to get out after work unless that is one is equipped with a frog mans suit!

Anyway, today (Saturday) it was time to brush off the cobwebs and get out there come rain or shine, and guess what? Yep it was the former! 

Several owl sites were visited and nothing seen, maybe my snorkel and flippers had put them off! The day wasn't all doom and gloom though, as I was flitting about from site to site on the  Leicestershire/Northants boarder when I chanced upon a small passage of Wheatear. Difficult to say just how many there were because they wouldn't stay still long enough to get an exact count but a conservative guess would be eight, or was that nine, maybe even ten.....?

Of the group two of them seemed to be more confiding than the rest, it was these two (below), a male and a female of which I managed my best and closest images. At first I kept driving along the track that was parallel to the field they were in, this worked to a certain extent but they were a bit flighty and the quality of the images were poor!

A different approach was then employed, I parked up and waited for them to come to me, it finally worked but it was a longer waiting game than I anticipated! I am really pleased with how my efforts turned out, they are by far the best images I have ever achieved of this species.

Wheatear - Female

Wheatear - Male

Wheatear - Male

Wheatear - Male

I was about to call it a day when I remembered that my "team" Leicester City were playing their last game of the footie season away at "Dirty Leeds". I tuned in the radio to the live commentary of the game, this relieved the boredom somewhat so I decided to stay put a while longer with the Wheatears.

And what a great decision that turned out to be as another "quality" species (well for me it is anyway!) and the jewel in the crown of the day was spotted skulking around in the undergrowth........a Whinchat!!!!!

I have only ever seen a Whinchat on a handful of previous occasions, and this was the first that I had located myself. The single bird, a male seemed far more nervous than the Wheatear and didn't come as close. However, I was thrilled to have found it and very pleased to have got my first ever image of one, albeit distant.

Whinchat - Male

A cracking mornings birding and unbelievably not an owl seen! It was then made all the better as my beloved Leicester City beat Leeds 2-1..........get in there you blue boys!!!!!

Wasted weekend...

There wasn't much time to get out and about over the last weekend, I'd been tasked with finishing off all the DIY projects that had been started and not finished during the last few months, well last few years if I must be honest......its a bloke thing!

Anyway, after being a good boy I rewarded myself with a few free hours late on Sunday afternoon to go out. My first stop off was to see if the local Redstart was still hanging about? A three hour wait in my hide nothing was seen, I was resigned to the fact it must have moved on so with only an hour or so of light left I called it a day and decided to go and see if any owls were out.  

I flitted from site to site and saw nothing, then to save the day and to get my "owling fix" I located the resident pair at my site No 107. The male owl was basking in what little sun was left on top of a haystack and the hen owl was caught coming out of the nest cavity.   

I am hoping to get out and do a bit more owling in the evenings during the coming week or so, that is if the "inspector" passes off my DIY projects..........Mmmmmm what are the chances of that?

Redstart re-visited!

Couldn't resist going back for another look at the male Redstart, better conditions today!

Redstart

The Leicestershire birding jungle drums were beating soundly this afternoon, a real gem of a bird in the form of a Black Winged Stilt had dropped into Rutland Water, although an excellent tick for most county recorders I wasn't able to make the 20 or so mile trip to see it!  

Then another text messages came through with news of a male Restart that was showing well at the village of Froelsworth. Now normally I don't go pursuing "other peoples" birds as I prefer to find my own but as this was very local I was compelled to go and have a look.

After a bit of a mix up and some wasted time as to whether the bird was north or south of the identified location I finally latched on to the three other birders whom were looking for it. Finally we re-located it and I got some superb views. 

It was certainly a handsome bird and although not an owl I really enjoyed watching this little beauty feeding avidly around a pile of horse manure.

I have been lucky enough to make at least an annual sighting of a Redstart in Leicestershire over the  past 4 or 5 consecutive years, the last time was back in August 2011 where a chance encounter was made whilst photographing a pair of Little Owls, see below.

Better than pathetic??

I went back over to my latest new site last night (No 209), my purpose was to improve on the first image I managed (see previous post) which was to say the least poor!

The condition weren't really any better, overcast, drizzly and the owl was still in heavy shadow but rather than take the image from distance like last time I made the most of being allowed into the field which hosts the nest tree. The Landrover was positioned around 20 feet away and then the waiting game commenced. The male owl was high up in the tree and no images were possible, but eventually the hen owl popped out of the nest cavity to have a look at me which resulted in the image below.

Still not the image I am after but much improved on my first pathetic attempt!

Good light and bad!

It has been just over 4 years now since I picked up my first digital camera, it has been a massive learning curve and almost every time I take it out I learn something new. But there is one thing for sure, good light goes a long way in making and average image a better image.

Therefore when ever I am out I will always take time to work out where and when would be the best positions so as to make the light work in my favour. Sometimes getting into a better position means a longer wait and maybe no images at all, but it is a gamble of which I am prepared to take as the final outcome is nearly always more rewarding.

A typical example of this is the two images below, both were taken this evening and believe it or not within 30 minutes of each other. In the first image almost everything was perfect, light, background and the closeness of the owl. The only other major variable that could spoil such an opportunity was the camera operator! I knew I could have positioned myself at this owl site where there would have been far more chances of getting an image but the light would have been coming from behind the owl, something I didn't want. So in this case  I worked myself into a position where I knew there was not going to be too many chances of getting a decent image as the owl didn't land on this particular perch very often, but today the gamble paid off as the owl obliged for a few fleeting seconds.   

The second image was taken at a brand new site, No 209 near to the village of Newbold Verdon. My mate Hoodie gave me the heads up on this particular site a few days ago, cheers mate! I know he perhaps won't believe me but I have stopped and looked in this tree on many previous occasions, well you have to with a fantastic owly crevice like that.

Anyway, the light levels were still pretty good when the new owl was spotted, but due to the sun being in totally the wrong direction it was in complete shade. They were really horrid conditions to get decent image let alone a record shot. I had to bump up the ISO to 1600 which allows for a lighter image but then the image gets all nasty with a grainy effect, as you can see for yourself?

But as they say beggars can't be choosers and tonight this was all about getting my first image of an owl at a new site.  

I

I have now studied the site and worked out what time of day would be best for photography purposes, but what this meant was I'd have to be in the adjacent field! Then my task was to find out who owned the land and could permission be obtained for access?

After a bit of networking I met Tom and his Dad Dave, and may I say a couple of very hospitable gents they turned out to be! Access was granted, for me and for my Landrover.......what a result!

But then things got even better, a second Little Owl was seen, brilliant a pair! But that's not where things ended, it turns out that Dave has had breeding Barn Owls in his back garden too, so a deal was struck. Dave will allow me access to his field (and he gave me a key to the lock!) and in turn I will be putting him a brand new box up in his barn...........a good deal or what?

Bank Holiday........Part 2

I had planned to make the most of this Bank Holiday Monday and have another owlathon, but I had second thoughts as a couple of blog followers were kind enough to pre-warn me that the weather was going to be awful! So with that in mind I sneaked out over the weekend instead, here are a few images I was lucky enough to capture whilst out......

Little Owl in flight, a terribly difficult piece of action to capture, I'm pretty pleased with this effort though!

A re-visit to one of my "newer" sites, No 205 near to Gilmorton found both the resident owls sheltered up in a hollow tree. I was able to get the Landrover very close without spooking them and this image (below) was the result.

Although the owls at my site No 154 were out and very active I couldn't get very close to them! So I offer this "arty" image (below) of the hen owl sitting in a hollow tree trunk. 

I try to avoid "back lit" images when ever possible, highlights and defining shadows are lost leaving an image looking "flat". Although it wasn't sunny it was still pretty bright and coming from behind the owl (below) at my site No 135.     

I have found that Little Owls don't like the wind, so when it is windy searching for them is made all the more easier if you look on the sheltered side of trees and hedgerows. Employing this method the Little Owl at site No 136 was found with ease. He was roosting on the topside of a small crevis and all fluffed up to help retain his warmth.