While sitting in my 3D leaf suit yesterday the Barn Owl came in for a rest from the high wind. It hunted without any kill which always upsets me, and as I write this the rain has been coming down for a Full day and night so they won’t get any food today. But there very good at stashing their food fo days like this.
The Barn Owl can only go 2 to 3 days without eating.
Yes to see the Barn Owl from the front with the big eyes and beautiful face is such a joy. As a photographer I feel its so important to see the bird from all angles, as many people are not that lucky to see one flying never mind film one so close hunting.
I would say yesterday was the closest the pair came to me. It’s very tempting to walk after them as they hunt in fields around me. But I have learned what you miss and maybe it will come up with a vole would be great to capture, staying in the same place has its rewards. The feeling that they are used to me is stronger and as I pose no threat and wear the same cloths everytime I do think they can see me but are at ease with me filming them.
Looking at the Female from the back really shoes off the amazing feater structure, colours and detail. Tail feathers Primary Flight feathers and Secondary feathers can be seen in this image.
I really hope by passing my knowledge on in a simply put way gives the individual a insight into the life of the Barn Owl.
Great news this morning i went over in high winds to my location where the Barn Owls are located. When i arrived i had no idea what i would see at 7.30am on a wind gusting morning with a wind chill factor that made me shiver. I sat in a shaded location where i could observe any movement and after i drank my coffee i sat and watched a couple of Stock Doves going through their mating ritual.
Just as i was getting up i caught sight of a Barn Owl at the end of the small overgrown field on one post i had sighted weeks ago. Then to my surprise another Barn Owl appeared but it was very dark in colour. After an hour of observation i took some images from my car and another location more to see what sex they were and if i recognised them form the feather detail.
It is clear there both ringed and look very different to the ones i was filming the last 6 weeks, so they may be another pair, and could be using the nest box that someone has sighted.
The image below is the closet i have of a Barn Owl and if viewed on a big screen or good tablet you can see the markings on its feet and the talons look so sharp and clean. Its not good to see them out hunting through the day unless the male is bring in voles for the young so i do hope the they make it to breeding and have a family
Fly fly angels wings, fly beyond imaginings the softest cloud the whitest dove, upon the wind of heavens love. Past the planets and the stars leave this lonely world of ours. Escape the sorry and the pain and fly again
Fly fly my precious one the endless journey has begun, take your gentle happiness far to beautiful for this. Cross over to the other shore where they is peace for evermore, but hold my memory of you bitter sweet until we meet once more.
Fly fly do not fear don’t waste a beat don’t shed a tear, your heart is strong your soul is free don’t wait for me. Above the universe you’ll climb on beyond the hands of time. The moon will rise the sun will set, but I won’t forget.
Fly fly little wings fly where only angels sing, fly away the time is right fly away and find the light.
,
With many Barn Owl images to look at i thought it would be a good idea to make a nice slide show of some of my best images from The Barn Owl that i rescued in the green netting to the Barn Owl’s here in my local area. It shows the Barn Owl in a beautiful way, the amazing show they display when i film them. At no time during any filming was the Owls disturbed and their welfare its paramount.
Please enjoy and if you want a copy i can put it on a USB stick, it is lovely if you can watch it on a TV to gat the real impact of them flying.
If I sit for 5 hours in a hedge or ditch, the peace and quiet of the countryside brings feelings that you can’t describe. Waiting for long periods of time for the Barn Owl brings other little surprises. Waiting this day a little Wren came and sat next to me for a brief moment. The Robin pays me many visits and it’s like it is saying are you waiting for the Barn Owl.
I never go out hoping for a fantastic image, as i have learned that you cant rush nature or make things happen. even when you time when the Kingfisher comes in with a fish every 15 mins, the time your ready the Kingfisher will go up river the other way.
You dont get Patience given to you it comes from loving the outdoors and having a love for animals of all shapes and sizes, birds of all species. Maybe hours of waiting in the forests of Bavaria for a enemy patrol and sitting behind a machine gun for 12 hours in the jungles of Guatamala help me when i left the Army.
The rewards i get from my bird photography are many and everyone is special. letting the public know about the behaviour and the life they lead is very important to my work as a photographer, and an image shows the beauty the behold.
Many times when i see a bird i keep my camera still and just watch the bird in its natural habitat. Just at the moment the Barn Owl comes into veiw is more like a dream i am in, the qiuetness is not broken by its arrival having the ability to fly in total silence.
So patience has its rewrads that only comes from my dedication to the work i do, i when you think you know everthing about a bird it will do something else i didn’t know it did. Lately i have left the Owl alone as its breeding season and i put the birds welfare first. These images are from 2 weeks ago and i just edited them today.
I will be visiting onece a week to see if the male is hunting at dusk just to put my mind at reat as i found 2 dead near to where the Barn Owl nests. There is one Female hunting and after speaking to the Owl experts was told this is normal behaviour for the feamle at this time of year.
Having written 695 blogs since August 2020 I feel the need to delete posts that I consider not important to my blog, in the early posts I would just write and post images just trying to keep or get more followers but what I did write did have some relevance to either my life stories, the Army or my love for Photography.
Looking back through my posts is interesting and how my grammar and expression has his improved over 8 months. So deleting them was the only way of continuing my blog and after a week at looking at other offers from Wix, Godaddy, Squarespace, and other sites it became apparent that I would have to start from scratch again.
Not knowing if my early blogs from last year will be read iwas hesitant to delete them but but to keep the wheels turning and continue with wordpress I felt it the only way ahead. Yes I could spend another £200 on a Buisness Package just doing the same thing.
I could just stop but by writing everyday helps me with my illness that hides in my body and appears when I least expect it. So by telling my stories through my camera lens helps me so much and brings happiness and maybe a smile to some people.
So I will continue my blog and won’t give up after putting so many blogs together.
Had a bad day yesterday so loaded my best stic images that I had not edited of my Wonderful Friend the Barn Owl. Looking at her sitting feet away from me gives me so much pleasure. I want to thank her and hold her but I can’t.
I can’t stop looking at the Barn Owl, I am in total admiration for it.
Having been gifted to take photographs of Owls and then to turn the image into a memory is so satisfying.
When the passion is so strong and your dedication and love for a bird is total commitment,there is no better way than to make a memory live on
This Owl gave me so many beautiful moments while I sat in my hide that it had to go into 2 Wood Frames I made 3 years ago.
Maybe it was meant to be that her grace still brings beautiful memories of our short time in each others company.
As the sun sets the golden hour starts a term used in photography. Is this so befitting of the Barn Owl to blend in and just be the right colors to fit the theme. Grass swaying in the evening breeze, shadow from my post gradually stretches across the wet winter grass.
You gaze into the sunset reflecting in the female barn Owl eyes so beautiful the trance begins and she glides by in total silence Voles stopping not to attract the silent hunter to their location.
Many days will be spent filming this graceful Owl.
arriving at my peacful location at 10.30 this morning i was greeted by Bella hunting in the field where i was going to set up. Knowing she needs to make a kill i left her to hunt and went back to my car. I spotted the Kestrel flying above my makeshift hide on the banking and it made me very excited that it still hunts over the Hide i built.
The hours past buy and i messed around with my settings as you do and took some Snaps of the post i wanted Bella to sit on. It didnt happen today, and that’s what i love about wildlife photography you never can be certain when and if yo will get that Snap.
So i had lunch and it approached 1400hrs when i looked up and the Kestrel was hunting just off to my left but to far to capture it in flight. I have only a few snaps of the Kestrel as its pot luck where you are when the decide to hover above you. 1500HRS came and thats when a couple turned up on th road ooposite me.
I had seen them before and it just reminded me of when i was starting out looking for the Barn Owl and how excited it is when one appears. They moved up the road and it was then Bella came out to Hunt. The light was fantastic and she came close on a few occasions but i didnt want to frighten her with the sound of my shutter noise on the camera so i let her hunt back and forth.
It is very hard to keep calm when a bird as beautiful as the Barn Owl comes into range of your camera but like i stress to anyone i meet, this is her Patch and you are the visitor and should respect the fact that you go home to your lovely warm house while Bella and Bertie hunt all through the night to survive.
I decided today to try f9 on my camera as this is the lowest aperture you can get when you attach a 1.4 Extender giving you more reach. When Bella approched this time she made a sudden decent to her right opening her wings wide and moving through a sequence of flight movements. I was locked on to her but i never know if as they say i have Nailed it.
Edited in Lightroom Mobile i was pleased to say that even when she was far away i got some decent snaps of her.
After I had nailed a few snaps I felt it time to go and stopped to talk to the couple who stopped to watch the Barn Owl. The smile the lady had on her face when i parked up was pricless. This is what i mean when i say the sheer beauty the sight of a Barn Owl fling brings is one that cant be matched. They were a lovely couple and i apologised for shouting at them on one occasion.
Ther names were Sarah and Tom and they were so nice to talk to and just love wildlife. I hope they read this and i really hope they get some great snaps of Bella or Bertie but keep it secret for thier enjoyment and mine. I let them know that i am writing a blog on the Barn Owls and will continue to protect them from people that put getting a image rather than the Barn Owl interest firt.
Yesterday the Barn Owl flew past me and i managed to get a flight shot, i used Jpeg Extra Fine and the in camera processing was just brilliant. I only had to crop slightly so you could say i nearly filled the frame.
Detail is so good you can see the markings on her body showing its a female in flight.
Love the Sony A7r4 and with the 200-600 there is so much pleasure when you do birds in flight because you are confident it will nail the image.
Rons life through the lens 