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3 Barn Owls on the marsh.

  Great trip to the Norfolk marsh this morning, thanks to Andy Brown for the tip-off. Up at 6AM, up to my knees in marsh mud in the reeds by 7.30 with all my kit, ready to go. Always good while you are waiting to keep checking the light levels and adjusting ISO to as low as you can get away with as the sun comes up. 3 Barn Owls hunting in glorious morning sunshine gave us some great photo opportunities. It really makes you think how easy most of us humans have it when you see how hard these birds have to work just to get breakfast!    ...

Old Buckenham Owl.

After quite a few trips over the last 6 months to try and catch sight of this Owl on Old Buckenham Country Park, I finally got some pictures of it yesterday evening. Friends who live close by told me that they had seen 2 Owls in the field next to them, so off I went again and got in position behind a tree next to the back fence of the field and set up my camera and camo net to make a makeshift hide. The field is a horse paddock that hasn't been used for a while so is a bit overgrown which makes a perfect home for short tailed voles, the staple diet of Barn Owls. As the evening drew on with light fading, suddenly I was aware of the familiar figure of a Barn Owl...

Sleet Stops Play!

    Weather report said that we would get a couple of hours of sun this morning before the rain/snow came, so I was out early as I was trying a remote set-up with my other camera and a wide angle lens to get a 'vole eyed view' of an Owl. All was good when I got there, but after setting everything up I looked across the marsh to see this rainbow and leaden sky and feared the worst. Sure enough, the wind picked up and sleet crashed down as I hurriedly covered up the cameras and shelter them with my body for 10 minutes until it stopped. I set up again as the sun peeped out from behind the clouds and the Owl appeared hunting straight away, then it came do...

Barn Owlets 'Kissing'!

Went over to Old Buckenham last week to see how the 2 Owlets were doing, and as I drove in I was amazed to see them both on a post each in the field, with an adult on a 3rd post! It looked like they were getting hunting lessons, so I stopped the car, grabbed my camera from the passenger seat and crept out to use the car as a hide, hoping they wouldn't fly off! I lent the camera on the roof and got some shots as one owlet flew over to the other one and looked like it gave it a kiss and cuddle before flying off, a cute moment. Once they flew off, I got set up by a tree and waited, and they came back just as the golden evening sun was showing its last rays, and g...

Living with Kingfishers.

Wymondham Kingfishers Jan 2022 I went for a walk on the River Tiffey footpath in Wymondham in early Jan, and was amazed to see a male Kingfisher sat on a branch taking in the winter sun! I had heard from a friend that one had been spotted, and knew they had nested there before, but great to see it within 10 mins of getting there! Kingfishers like shallow, slow moving rivers and streams, with plenty of branches to perch on and fish from, the Tiffey is perfect for this, especially after a lot of work was done last year to clean up the river and encourage more fish. ! got a couple of shots for record, and decided to come back sporadically to see if any chance o...

Photography at night in Lincolnshire.

Excellent stay overnight in a hide in Lincolnshire to use flash on local wildlife. I stayed in it from 4PM to 9 AM overnight and played a waiting game with some flashes set up. Not long after dark the Tawny Owls started hooting all around, and one flashed past the post at about 10 PM.   Then y ou could here a noise like a baby crying coming from the pond, a young Otter calling to its mum that it wanted fish, and then there it was, adult Otter fishing in the pond for 10mins.   The Heron landed in the pond around midnight which was a surprise, but gave a nice reflection before it went. At about 1.30AM the hooting started again, and a Tawny owl landed on...