Revisited the Barn Owl and Short-eared Owl site yesterday,the first time since the snow had melted and what greeted me was more like the landscape of an estuary than the farmland and rough grazing habitat where these owl are spending the winter months.With the access water from the snow and the rain everywhere, the fields were saturated,with knowhere for this extra water to drain off too,the ground was just full of water.This left isolated pockets of ground scattered among the water with little chance of a meal for the owls among this sodden landscape.
This made it very difficult for the owls to hunt in,but I was really glad to see the male Barn Owl I had spent alot of time with a few weeks ago having survived the unprecedented cold spell of freezing weather we’d just endured.His two favorite stretches of land he prefers to hunt in were underwater so he was at a different spot,some distance away so I hope to catch up with him soon before both these species of owl leave and head to their summer breeding grounds around mid to late February.I was just about to pack up as an impending storm was gathering when a Short-eared Owl landed to my right on the fence line.
He hadn’t seen me at first,so I waited for him to get relaxed as he was looking up,down and around at first,I then took a few images and proceeded forward at a snails pace,stopping as he looked my way,when he looked away or started to clean himself I carried on forward until I got about 20 foot away from him where he gave me this stare which you can see above,this was the cut off point for my advances as I read his behaviour as I entered past the ‘comfort’ zone all animals have.Not bad as I would have looked like a large bush coming towards him, he just didn’t no what I was as I moved very slowly, watching the ground where I put my lead foot down as not to tread on something that would give me away.
I have always found you must read the signs the subject will give you,interpret them quickly.eg are they going to move,or fly off,are they cleaning,feeding,resting,happy,troubled and so on, so you can get an understanding if they are agitated by you presence.This will give you valuable time to get the images you want,they may still fly off or move but its better to have done your approach this way because if things go your way you will be able to capture close up and interment moments and truly benefit from the close encounter with the subject you chose to find that day.
This Short-eared Owl went off hunting before the storm came,as it was the last I saw him,another close moment for me to treasure.If you put into place the simple techniques I have described you too will be able to get quiet close with a lot of patience,self belief and good fieldcraft, so when you get to where you’d like to be with your subject, the easy bit should be pressing your shutter button and composing your images.I will be back very soon to get some better images of both owls I hope and will update my blog.Hope the tips and advice has helped.
Owls have long since been one of my most favorite family of birds to watch and photograph,and I travel all over the UK to see them,their pull is that strong for me.So yesterday I visited another new site away from the failing North-West Coast where I’d spent 2-3 weeks on the run up to Christmas waiting in the freezing conditions for Barn and Short-eared Owls to turn up.This year though on the marshland and estuaries of this area their numbers have been very low and quiet alarming.I did capture some amazing red skies there though and the ever popular ‘cheeky chappy’ male Stonechats that kept me company during the long hours spent waiting.
The images included in this article are from this new site and I really was lucky to see both Barn and Short-Eared Owls on my first visit there yesterday.The conditions were perfect with no wind or rain and dry, the only difficulty for the hunting owls was that the ground was frozen rock hard and the image above shows the small pools of which their prey live and feed in and around in were all frozen.I composed the above image to try a convey this scene,with the frozen small pools and the owl small in the frame,with the setting sun just adding that warmth and wonderful colour to the photo,at full size it looks amazing.
Most of the images I captured from the day were shot in near darkness at ISO 1000.,the image above was from early morning and one of the few chances I had until later on in the evening.The winter frost can be seem behind the hunting Barn Owl as I captured it quartering on this patch of farmland.I just love watching these birds I nickname the ‘Ghost’ as they are so silent and appear from nowhere then in a flash are gone
In near darkness this Barn Owl seen above, turned up and started to hunt,I managed a few shots and then a Short-Eared Owl showed up seen below,it had awoken from the area they are roosting in,sat on this fence post,had a look at what I was ,then went off hunting.You wait all day and nothing shows up then within the space of 5 minutes both owls turned up.
Beginners luck on my first day I think!.Looking forward to going back with the aim of getting some close up shots of both owls. I watched both owls hunt and the paths they used, where they mainly hunted giving me a better idea of where to go,stand etc, so hopefully I can get lucky again the next time I go.I did manage to capture a Short-Eared Owl flying past me with a vole,taken with a slow shutter speed.
The last image of a wonderful day,the Barn Owl was heading back to its roost and I didn’t see him again, this image captures that as it was ‘Goodnight from Him’ and ‘Goodnight from Me’ as the famous line goes from one of my favorite comedy double acts ‘The Two Ronnies’I hope you have the luck I had when you are out and about looking for wildlife, if you are looking for Barn and Short eared Owls remember they don’t come out in rain only in extreme circumstances ie feeding young.They like very little wind,hunt over open farmland and rough grazing,and favour dawn and dusk,good luck.
