Tag: birds of prey

31 Mar

SEO = Short-eared Owl season…

The first quarter of each calendar year sees me turn my attentions to photographing Short-eared Owls.

The combination of this over wintering Owl and the low setting winter sun makes for an ideal image in my mind. Well that is the theory… In practise I spend countless hours hiding in fields, waiting for the Owl, hoping for some sunshine and praying that the wind direction is favourable to capture “that” image. With so many variables it is little wonder that on many occasions I come back home “empty handed”.

When the elements do all fall in to place however, it is very rewarding and the hours spent freezing my feet and hands are soon forgotten. This 2015 SEO season, despite a poor and frustrating start, has ultimately produced some of my best images of this beautiful Owl.

26 Feb

BIRDGUIDES — PHOTO OF THE YEAR 2014

I am delighted to announce that my image of a Kestrel has been awarded

PHOTO OF THE YEAR 2014 by BIRDGUIDES.

There were around 325,000 bird images uploaded to www.birdguides.com over the last year, so for mine to be chosen from such a large pool is personally very rewarding.
Well done to all of the runners up and Highly Commended photographers and thanks to Birdguides and their judges for organising this competition. Full details can be found here:-

http://www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?a=4847

This image was in fact one of the very first images I took whilst testing and fine tuning my Canon 7D MK2 camera . It was coupled to a Canon 800mm lens when this picture was taken.

31 Jan

Barn Owl season begins…

There is one bird of prey that is an instant favourite. The Barn Owl.

It is a privilege and pleasure to see these birds at any time of the year. Over the last twelve months I have found a number of birds locally. Some are very much night hunters and I never see them during the day. Others are a little more confident and will occasionally put in an appearance when the sun is still shining. I have found them to be very difficult to predict. Their patterns of behaviour change almost daily which results in many “wasted” hours hoping for a glimpse of this elegant bird.

When one does come out during the day and hunts within “photographic” range, then all of that “wasted” time becomes irrelevant.