Tuesday 6 December 2011

Owl Time










My thoughts at this time of the year turn to owls,in particular to barn and short eared owls.A couple of recent trips had proved fruitless but I opened my account last week when returning from a day out with Martin to a wader roost at Morecambe. On the way back Martin showed me a little owl perched in it's roadside tree and I grabbed a few images from the car one of which is shown above. I later learned of the whereabouts of a number of short eared owls which had been showing well in South Lancs.

I was keen to see them whilst they were still around so Trevor and I duly arrived at the location on the mosslands of South West Lancs. Immediately we were watching three short eared owls quartering the large area of rough grassland and they were later joined by a barn owl.We were not alone and we enjoyed the company of a number of other local photographers.

The owls performed well until fading light late afternoon forced us to pack up and head for home.It had been an excellent session and although the owls never came really close whilst we were there,I still managed some shots with which I was well pleased . I paid another visit yesterday but there was no sign of any owls. There had been bad weather since my last visit and it had turned very wintry.Hopefully the owls will be back and I look forward to seeing these magnificent birds once again. Hope you enjoy the account and the images I have posted above and thanks for looking.

10 comments:

  1. Wow that's an excellent results Brian... I love them all and would love to see them around here. We only have the short-eared owl but it is not that common!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great shots. Wish I was there to share though. It will have to inspire me to get out and see what I can find here.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Brian - you've struck gold! Lovely shots of one of my favourite creatures.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great images,great composition Brian well deserved for all the time and effort you put in.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great account of your day Brian,so glad the owls performed for you and all superbly caught on camera for everyone to enjoy!Keep up the good work

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks everyone for your comments.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi all,

    Owls have large forward-facing eyes and ear-holes, a hawk-like beak, a flat face and usually a conspicuous circle of feathers around each eye. The feathers making up this disc can be adjusted in order to sharply focus sounds that come from varying distances onto the owls' asymmetrically placed ear cavities. Thanks for sharing it.......

    Wildlife Photography

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thought id leave a comment on your blog and say hello. Richard from an Amish settlement in Pennsylvania.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Brian, these are awesome shots!

    ReplyDelete