blogowl – Rons life through the lens

11 Years The Reward.

So I drive somewhere different this morning, and watch the Rabbits, Brown Hare, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Skylark and Meadow Pipit all starting the new day. I come to a dead end and sit and look over a valley imaginings of Barn Owl, Short Eared Owl flying low looking for food for the young Owlets. I am so appreciated of the beauty of the English countryside.

Hundreds of hours of searching 11 years with just a few sightings and always sitting in a gutter or hiding in a small crevis. This bird has alluded me for 11 years. So I start to drve back to my resting place, windows down camera on my lap. The stone wall runs alongside me on both sides, my eyes are trained to locate anything out of the ordinary.

I stare ahead and whisper the words Little Owl, please stay calm and let me spend some time with you, I bring you no harm my little Owl.

I stopped the car and slowly raise my lens up hoping it won’t fly away. Most encounters end with the Owl flying away before you stop, but this day was mine, the hours of dedication rewarded in a brief moment in time. The right time, place, my heart starts to race as our eyes meet through my viewfinder. I stare at the Owls face its eyes fixed on me.

The sight of this fantastic hunter, amazing ability to adapt and overcome the changing climate. It sits with one foot up showing me its relaxed so I calm down a bit and have time to check my settings, they have to be right so I change my aperture 6.3 to 7.1 up to f8. Then I 5hink of Shutter speed just In case it moves or does something out of the ordinary.

The experience is overwhelming and I forget all what’s going on around me. It preens in the morning sun not bothered about me. My Shutter is blazing away, stopping checking all is OK on my viewfinder. 11 years of waiting they have to be good. Then it decides to stretch.

O that’s nice just getting ready to fly for Blackie.

So I fly for you and sit for you, its your time Blackie it was worth the wait.

So Blackie and the Little Owl meet in the countryside and spend some quiet time together for the first time. 495 images later he decides to leave the Owl in peace, maybe to return for another meeting.

Waiting for the Owl

I made boxes for the birds in Goodenbergh Country Park and 3 years ago I made a Barn Owl nest box and placed it in a tree near to my wildlife hide.

The Jacdaw Squirrels and Stock Doves usually get in the box first but I got a really nice surprise when I was just sitting in the Deer hide. The sight of a Tawney Owl flying headfirst at the box and carrying a mouse in for what looks like young.

I can’t wait to see if the family are successful and rear a family for the good of the site. I have only seen your Owls about 5 years ago. Keeping very quiet I sat and watched the male come out of the box and sit there for a good 10 min then it flew into a tree next to me just out of sight.

The Moors Sunday Evening

Took Al my mate up to the moors just outside Bentham, the light was not that good but what we saw made up for it. I took him to a spot where I know the Short Eared Owl hunts and you see Grouse, Curlew, Lapwing and Skylark, plus the Brown Hare.

We arrive and spotted 2 Curlew over a wall but they reacted to fast flying off. Then we walked down to another wall, then up in the sky I said look Al a Buzzard being chased by a Lapwing, followed by anther big bird. Only a Short Eared Owl.

Al’s face was a picture grinning and looking at his LCD on the A9ll, look Blackie he said Owl you were right. Up on the hill top breaking the natural hill stood a Grouse that I brought Al’s attention to.

With the light fading we headed back to where I thought the SEO would be and as we came across the hill a Barn Owl was hunting in a small valley running from left to right. It could not have got any better when I told Al that the Barn Owl won’t go that area as the SEO and BO don’t get on.

Anyway the BO went across the horizon with a vole and headed to my mates Barn that has a BO nest box in it, I sighted 4 years ago. I said to Al it will be out in less than 5 min and to my word it did.

It went to the place the SEO was and it happened the SEO came out from nowhere and attacked the BO but only both to go in different directions. The BO came back our way and disappeared over towards the barn.

What an hour up on the moors, such great times for Al who is learning all the time but more importantly time spent going something so wonderful with my mate.

Memories By the Photographer and Carver.

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.

Hand made frames for the Barn Owl that gave me so much joy.

February Gallery

What a fantastic month it ghas been, yes lots of wind and rain but you only need a quick plan of action and you can be with nature. With many places to visit makes it a joy to be a wildlife photography. Flat fields to the beach and then the lake brings lots of bird species to the Fylde Coast Area. Travel out through beautiful countryside and witness more great areas to film.

Female Widgeon in flight Sony A7r4 200-600

Tide times bring more opportunities to me knowing what species come in to graze on the grass when the sea goes out. The Widgeon and Teal will move in slowly looking out for danger and calling out at any signs its not safe. Observing birds is not just to get a Snap its educational and knowledge I can pass on to my children or someone who wants to learn photography.

Lakes are great places to photograph birds and getting the right angles I find is so important and gives the Snap a different feel. Then when in flight you have to change position quickly to capture the Tufted Duck in flight.

From medium sized birds to large slow flying birds helps with mastering birds in flight one of if not the hardest style of photography you can learn. But time spent on the ground and practicing is the only way you will get better. Once upon a time I would come back from a day out with my gear and return home only to find all my snaps were out of focus, its heartbreaking. You can look at social media for an answer but you have to remember the person or persons are not the same as you.

Knowing your camera is like knowing your rifle when to squeeze the trigger or press the shutter button. Moving with the target or panning with the bird. Anticipation of the enemy breaking cover or a Deer moving across the path in front of you. Fast reactions will get you great snaps but slow reactions get you half a bird or animal disappearing out of the frame.

Yes this is a slow moving bird and you would think its a simple task of following the bird through the viewfinder, but it still moves quick when your looking through the lens. And when at 600mm it’s very difficult to not cut the birds fee off or a wing tip. Still panning skills are a must and only by tracking it with your eye will get you great snaps.

Take this Kestrel hovering above me, you you think it was still so you stay on it all the time but with such a small subject you have to get in close to maintain great detail. This image is OK but it’s heavily cropped. Really I needed it to lower in the sky to get outstanding image quality.

February gave me some great experiences but when you have a dream location it’s a photography dream. So to get the following images to hours of sitting waiting hours sometimes 6 hours to get nothing. Building a temporary hide pays dividends and using the foliage that surrounds you will make you less conspicuous. But it’s not just the hide and concealing yourself that’s critical it’s having the movement of arms and your Field of View to move with your subject. Left to Right Up and Down will give you better success rate. .

The hide is great for subjects that come into view of the windows so its always better to use a 3d suit meaning mobility to move if needed.

Having an area where you can move around has its benefits and i took full advantage of the 3 fields where the Barn Owl hunted. It still takes a lot of effort to keep hidden to keep the Owl relaxed at all times. Using the hedges and any mounds of earth is a good way of staying in cover. Another thing to have in mind is the Barn Owl has the best hearing of anything living, being able to hear a Voles heartbeat in the grass below. So keeping the shutter button pressed as it get close is a big No No. it will hear it and move off scared and disturbed in its hunting.

Sony A7r4 200-600

The Barn Owl has a mate. This is the female Identified by brown spots or specs on her stomach. I place a pole in the ground 3 weeks ago and while sitting there today she came in and modelled for me. But there was a brown object just below my lens that messed my composition up. So it’s take 2 as they say. No sharpening needed light good and kept my ISO down. Just edited on my Phone no need for expensive Software if you get a good image in the first place.

Feb Day 12 Photo Challenge

Aim today is using the Sony 100-400mm film in video of the Owl on the new stump

Winds High so may not happen but I am here ready.

I am a day behind, call it age if you must. But after a day of accidents yesterday including falling into my hide and ripping all the ground supports out. Then loosing my phone getting a tree stump for the Barn Owl to land on. Then putting the stump in the ground I sliced my figure open and while doing it the Owl spotted me. I put it down to one of those days

Anyway I am back the hide is still standing and in strong winds so its getting a good test.

My observations of the Barn Owl are very interesting in that I was always told that the weather hinders her hunting skills. Rain wets her feathers so they stay from getting wet. Wind affects her hearing so its much harder to hear movement in the grass

Hunting through the day is a bad sign as it means their hungry. But saying that I see her catch voles in 40 mins at 2pm and still come out for more.

Then yesterday I sat here and I really thought of packing up and going home, but as the wind picked up and there was no way she would fly in this.

As I packed my gear she came out and tried her hardest to catch something but without success.

Being Ex army you get a feel for the ground and the natural environment. To my left of the hide is a banking about 25 feet tall. It has a ditch at the bottom of it and as you crouch down the wind is not strong at all.

So she comes along the field and heads for the ditch witch runs about 200 metres and she flys low towards my hide . Diving every so often for her kill.

I think its a Male but yesterday I spotted brown speckles on the breast which would suggest its a female.

That Moment.

So I awake on a Summers morning. 4.30 on my little Scooter ĺeaving my wife and Bella asleep i head out as I have done for years.

Why do you get up so early?, people ask. You must be mad some people say. What makes you do it?, others ask.

There is a thing called Passion not used or heard a lot in daily conversations but something you need if you want to succeed in life.

I suppose I am lucky that I am Passionate about my family wanting them to be Loved and Happy. My Bella, my photography and my Wood Carving.

When I venture out early in the morning or lie in a field for 4 hours waiting in silence I do it because I love what I do. To share my photography with others is a way of bringing happiness into peoples lives, to make them smile. Showing a dog running, a child laughing or a animal in its natural habitat is just something special.

These moments are the reason I go out early, not to come back and boast about what I got, but to share with the few people that enjoy what I do.

So I ride out and sit against a wall, I am high up on the moors Sunrise is soon. I check my settings, the Curlew calls then the Lapwing. They have their young close by, the Buzzard calls out above me.

The sence of freedom and sounds surrounding me, I stare across the grass to the old barn its 200 feet away but I know the Barn Owl is inside. Waiting for that moment is so exciting.

I look down for a second and look back and its there.

I swallow and get ready for the lighting fast take off, bang its away. Did I get it as it flys low past me hunting. I quickly look t my camera. O My God.

So they as why I do it.

Blackie and Barn

As she came towards me with her wings spread the sun shone threw her feathers. Head and eyes looking into the pale brown grass. Ears listening for the slightest movement.

Turning quickly diving fast and seconds before she strikes her wings tuck back her Talons pushed forward and her eyes closed for the kill. She missed bless her.

The skill she uses has to be seen to understand how clever she is and the speed of her when she pinpoints the movement of a rodent.

Moments spent filming the Barn Owl are so special and its a privilege to capture her in the wild hunting. I do hope she has a mate and they breed this year.