Hunting Short-eared Owls

The Short-eared Owls were showing well in the afternoon sunshine on west Cornwall high ground.

Peregrine Take-Offs

There was plenty of Peregrine action on the south coast of Cornwall this morning with many hunting flights out but no prey brought back to their territory during our visit.

These birds are amazing hunters and I'm sure that it will be just a matter of time until prey is taken.

Post Eagles

Cornish Buzzards habitually use power line supports along sometimes busy road links as vantage points to watch for prey and are often referred to locally as ' Post Eagles '.

Passing Lorries, noisy tractors and general traffic will all be ignored but if you stop your car at a reasonable distance they start to get a bit uneasy.

Get out of the car to retrieve your camera from the boot and all you will get is a tail shot as the now distant bird flies off in the opposite direction so the answer to gaining a few images is that next time you drive this way have your camera and long lens in the car with you and shoot through a clean windscreen or open side window.

You might now find that you have to wait a while for that classic take off sequence that you have in mind as the bird relaxes on the post but you will be in control when the take-off finally happens.

Spawning Frogs

I awoke this morning to the sound of a croaky dawn chorus coming from my garden pond.  It was full of mating frogs with masses of spawn all around.

I used flash in the very dim light to record the moment and these images above and below seem to capture the scene.

Roe Deer on the Moor

Disappointing cloud cover wiped out a lovely sunrise as I arrived on a local Cornish moor this morning but within an hour I had worked on five doe and three young bucks in low light levels several of which are posted here.

Male Peregrine hassling to share Prey

Above a male Peregrine tries to steal prey from the larger female and the pair tumble down vertical cliffs where the female eventually rights herself and pulls the prey away from the males talons.


She flies to another cliff ledge to continue devouring her prey but in the images below she is once again harassed by the male to share but she is having none of it and takes off again leaving the male with little more than:      'Feet and Feathers'

Kestrel takes the Prize

A female Kestrel sets her sights on an in-flight Short-eared Owl and goes straight on the attack giving the Owl little time to take avoiding action and this time the Kestrel wins the day and comes away with the prey.

Foraging on Fungus

Spent some time checking out a recently used Polecat run on the River Hayle at St Erth yesterday but no show.

I was sat on a fallen tree trunk waiting and what I did learn from that was that some Grey Squirrels actively seek out and forage on dead wood Fungus

My final subject was a very bold and colourful Ring-neck Pheasant that strolled by as though it owned the place

Watching me watching Them !

Early am I was watching and snapping away at a group of back lit female Roe Deer taking cover in a known shadowed coppice retreat that I never enter when I became the one being observed.

As I looked around the fine young buck below was stood proud in the reed beds intently watching my static behaviour from around twenty metres.

I slowly swung my gimble mounted camera and lens around and managed to quietly take a couple of portrait shots before the buck picked up on the trio of females in the coppice and immediately skipped off to join them.

Clifftop Mating Peregrines.

On  south coast of Cornwall clifftops a female Peregrine patiently waits for her male partner to return from hunting to mate.

When she sees him arrive back in their territory she bows her head in a submissive pose and calls 

He immediately responds and flies straight in to balance on her back and skillfully mates without any support from the cliff ledge.

When the male departs just seconds later he pushes off from the females back finally toppling her over but these rough conditions and mating behaviour have hopefully got this fine pair of birds of prey off to a good reproductive start to 2020.