On the whole the figures from the Barn Owl Trusts State of the UK Barn Owl Population 2023 report show that it was another good year for breeding Barn Owls across the UK.
Its always a pleasure to help this wonderful charity with my images as I have been doing for many years.
Barn Owls have fascinated me from childhood, waiting, hidden away as one appeared from nowhere. Their beautiful round face and piercing black eyes staring back at you.
There is something so special seeing a wild Barn Owl quartering, hovering with moth like silence while hunting. Flying effortlessly on the wing in the half-light at dawn or dusk.
There a few places in the UK where you can experience the sights and sounds of nature any better than the North Norfolk coast during the Spring tides that start in earnest from this month onward.
There a few places in the UK where you can experience the sights and sounds of nature any better than the North Norfolk coast during the Spring Tides that start in earnest from this month onward and for me herald the onset of the Autumn and Winter months. As the incoming tides submerge the whole area it pushes thousands of waders closer to the shoreline.
In the August issue of Birdwatching magazine there is a helpful guide on getting better photographs of birds. There are a number of very helpful tips from expert’s in the field accompanying each image in the article.
Barn Owls are a bird that stir a great fascination and emotion for me, I have loved them since my very early teens. I have had a truly magical time on my Barn Owl project over the summer. As we enter the season of Autumn I just wanted to update you on whats happened since my last blog covering this project that you can read here.
A few images from a project that I’m working on at the moment. It’s an old coal mine which dates back to the 18th century but there are reports that coal may have been mined there from as early as the 14th and 15th Centuries. The whole place is protected now and stands empty and decaying, a visual sign of the past. It has been taken over by nature now, and pair of Barn Owls live within the ancient ruins of this building. A whole array of other wildlife shares the site from Kestrels, to Pigeons to many other birds and animals.
As a young child my primary school use to run school trips there and I can remember going on one and going underground which was amazing. It’s part of my local heritage as coal was mined in my hometown for hundreds of years before it all stopped in the mid to late 1980’s. When they all closed it decimated whole communities that were reliant on them for work and income.
I’m hoping to bring you more images from this project over time. In the meantime here are a few images of the owls and kestrels that live alongside each other.
The project as a whole will be one I hope that will show my own heritage within nature with my love of Barn Owls but more importantly my hometown. That since the late 1980’s has had its heart ripped out with all of the industries that once breathed life into this area taken from us resulting in wastelands upon wastelands from the past that nothing ever replaced to this day .Showing the power of nature to recalm and take back what was once theirs and injection life back into a place that died a longtime ago.
The Barn Owl chicks are around three weeks old now. They have been coming out more sand more recently, exercising their wings then they go back into the safety of their nest. They have down feathers still on their backs too, but look really health. Wonderful to see these young and here are a few images taken showing the 18th Century building once an old coal mine, that is now their home
Please support the work of the The Barn Owl Trust the only charity that looks after and cares for our native Barn Owl. One of my favorite living animals these birds need all the help they can get. For information, education, events that help these owls and products, prints you can purchases please see their website, many thanks.
