I’ve been after some decent short eared owl shots all Winter but so far have only managed long distance sightings and pictures. However recently I’ve been watching one on the moors above where I live and you can almost set your watch at the time it hunts a particular field. The field is some distance away from the road so I sit there willing the owl to venture closer toward me. Last night I watched it quartering the moor on the lookout for its evening meal and on a few occasions it plunged headfirst into the long grass, always emerging with empty talons. Gradually it began to get closer and I could see its stunning orange yellow eyes as I looked through my viewfinder. I had the shutter almos
It’s that time of year again when the great spotted woodpeckers in my local wood start pairing up and looking for nest holes. Last year I watched three nests successfully fledge and so far it looks like two of those nest sites have already been snapped up. The third though seems to have attracted the attention of two rival males who were checking it and each other out at lunchtime today. While one perched on the hole to check out the facilities the other kept dive bombing it in an attempt to perhaps scare him away from this high rise des res. He wasn’t taking the hint though and after an internal inspection perched higher up to consider the options while his rival looked on. The second male
So after a few near misses with the fish pass I decided to take the following day off work as I was sure it was going to happen very soon. I was all set up by 7.30am and I didn't have long to wait before the male arrived on the perch fish in beak. There was no sign of the female so he departed after a few minutes and for the next hour or so I had to make do with a fishing cormorant, nesting long tailed tits and a bathing mallard to keep me amused. Finally the female arrived on the perch and within seconds the male arrived with a fish only to see the female head upstream. Beginning to think I was in for another fruitless day I resigned myself to some pictures of a forlorn kingfisher with his
