Blog 1 Random Short-eared Owls

Blog 1 shows random images of the Owls taken during the first couple of days of their sighting.

We gained a lot of information about the both the Owls behaviour and their tolerance levels over the first few encounters which stood us in good stead and provided better images as the days rolled by.

Short-eared Owl Blogs

The following six blogs have all been dedicated to this years influx of Short-eared Owls that have enhanced our Cornish heath land with their presence during the last couple of weeks.

Peter Tonkin and I have been watching and recording their behaviour through this period to capture images of the Owls behaviour:  In-flight,  Perched, Landings, Take offs, Hunting and in Aerial Disputes with each other.

There is quite a lot of dawn and dusk low light conditions to work with here but given the right conditions over the last week the birds have hunted for a couple of hours after sunrise and several hours before sunset with birds sighted from 1.30 pm which has created the opportunity to work with them in full sunlight to enhance the images produced

I have posted a preview image from each of the six blogs below:

Blog 1   General portraits

Blog two: AM & PM

Blog 3: Perched images.

Blog 4: Portraits

Blog 5:  Hunting Shorties.

Blog 6:  Aerial Disputes.

So Check out the images of these Owls in the next six blogs which demonstrate the photo opportunities available on heaths and high ground throughout west Cornwall at this time !!

The early Hunter

It was bright with our first sharp frost of the winter this morning and with only a gentle easterly breeze I decided to take a trip up to Chapel Carn Brea to look out for Short-eared Owl's but no show.

It was dark when I arrived but I could see the outline of an Owl already out Quartering the field to the north of the car park,

As dawn broke I could just make out the light  plumage of a slow moving Barn Owl,  I picked a spot to set up my tripod and within ten minutes I was able to start photographing it at high ISO settings which improved as the morning light lifted over the next thirty minutes.

The bird afforded me three close passes near the hedgerow and dived into the rough grass field during two of them but with no prey taken on either occasion.

The Barn Owl was beginning to look really photogenic as the first direct rays of the sun came up over the down but it was just like sounding an alarm as the bird stopped hunting immediately and headed off home which was perhaps a little frustrating but:  

                                         What a lovely way to start a keen winter's day !!

Out of the Mist

At 18.30 PM on a cloud covered hill where the rough grass fields were suddenly plagued by Cornish mizzle which was frustrating as I had seen a distant Short-eared Owl out there before the mist rolled in and the light faded even more.

I was working from a footpath alongside a rough overgrown Cornish wall and had just changed my setting to try to cope with the poor conditions ending up on ISO 8000  F4  1/250 sec which is not a good place to be on a Nikon 500mm prime lens.

Out of the mist following the wall line came this fine Short-eared Owl which I first saw in the gloom at around twenty five metres,  It suddenly realised that I was there as I took my first shots,  It faltered in flight but kept moving towards me along the wall line with its piercing yellow eyes glaring to suggest that I was not welcome !!

Focus tracking kept me locked on to these glaring eyes as I panned with the Owl until it was in front of me at just seven metres after which I ran out of close focal range.

The Owl disappeared back into the gloom as it passed on along the wall but somehow my camera had coped with the encounter to produce this atmospheric sequence of flight portraits and I was one:                                                                                       
                                                                          Happy Chappy !!

Barn Owls at Dawn and Dusk

I spent some time out on the higher heath-land looking for Short-eared Owls a couple of days ago,  No show but I was treated to some sunrise close hunting shots by an obliging pair of Barn Owls that melted away into the heath as the light levels came up with the sun along with a few aggressive crows.

I returned to the same location during the early evening looking to catch the same owls in better light than they were showing in during the early morning.

Barn Owls tend to hold off with their hunting until the light levels are really low and you are about to pack away your kit and true to form these Owls showed up as I started walking back to my car.

With a clear sky and the last burst of the sun before it set out over the sea I was able to record a good few semi-silhouette and some front lite images by using high ISO and low shutter speed combinations on the two birds.

Lots were destined for the recycle bin but some acceptable shots below show a cross section of what I did manage to achieve before the sun finally dropped over a distant Horizon.

Grey Wagtail

I returned to Kennell Vale yesterday looking to learn more about its pair of Dippers displaying,  I had two visits from the Dipper which travel long distances up and down the river during the day but on both occasions their arrival clashed with local Dog walkers and the Dipper departed.

A bit frustrating perhaps but local people walk their dogs here every day and its my visits that are the exception so you have to go with the flow !   I often get asked what I am looking for as few people are even aware that Dippers frequent the area,   Horses for Courses !!

One of a pair of Grey Wagtails did its best to entertain me,  They tend to feed on the same river insect life as the Dipper  They do just about all that the Dipper do while wading around the margins with the exception of diving under the water but they are a little more tolerant of the local walkers

Early morning Marazion

I took a phone shot of a St Micheal's Mount sunrise when I arrived at Marazion Marsh early this morning and as I did so I watched a Grey Heron take off from its roost on mount pine trees and head towards the marsh to provide my second shot of the morning.

The mallards were already busy on the marsh and low flying flock of Fifty or more Canada Geese completed a fly-bye to land on nearby Long Rock Pool

Meadow pipits are showing in good numbers at the moment and one of the ever present Marsh rabbits seemed to take offence when I lined up to take a few portraits