Friday 10 February 2012

Hunting Barnies









This week I turned my attention from short eared owls to looking for barn owls. The cold weather was still with us but Lancashire had escaped the worst of it and was only having hard overnight frosts. The local short eared owls had recently had a lot of attention from photographers and I left them in peace to go and look for some barn owls. On one visit I had only brief views but this week Martin and I visited the Pilling area and found a pair of barn owls actively hunting.

We were later joined by Dave Cookson and we were treated to a few hunting sorties by this pair of owls. The local farmer had been cutting some of the rough grasses and this may have disturbed the voles which the owls were hunting.The owls performed for us for a short period as the light was beginning to fade on this winter's afternoon. We made the best of the opportunity and I have shown above some of my better efforts to capture the action.

One of the owls caught a vole close by but was facing away from us and the shots above all show the rear end of the barn owl as it departed for it's home in the nearby farm buildings. I hope the images convey some of the excitement when witnessing hunting barn owls. I will of course be returning soon to try and capture more action with hopefully better results.Thanks for looking in.

10 comments:

  1. I Brian

    These shots are brilliant mate and I love the pose in the first one.

    Brian, I know that farmer, even though he is (nicely) diffused, I would recognise his stance and attire anywhere! He's a nice chap.

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  2. Amazing photos! So incredible to see this amazing owl in action! I love the photo where he has the mouse or vole.

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  3. Brian....the bird with the catch is by far my favourite and best image. I know the farmer too, he's OK and from a bygone age.

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  4. Fantastic!
    I am in awe!
    What a pleasure to see them hunting thanks to your wonderful pictures!
    Mustn't be that easy with the light running low!

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  5. Great shots! Fantastic how you could catch all these action situations!
    Have a nice weekend
    Yvonne & Raphael

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  6. As always a nice collection of images, me too – I recognise the farmer and my header at the moment is the same location from a few weeks back but they were too far away for me ... I was thinking of a visit on the same day, but didn't in the end. I love the depth of field on No 3, done well there, moving subject and the head and back in focus with the rest out... tricky stuff. Excellent.
    See you one day soon no doubt.

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  7. Thanks everyone for looking in and your kind comments

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  8. Many thanks for your comment Brian, coming from you it means a great deal!
    I am so impressed with your own photography and can only dream to ever come close!...
    These coming days, I will publish quite few pics on birds of prey!
    Cheers and happy birding, Brian!

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    1. Brian,Ican finally leave a comment great images and a great day out.

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  9. Wowowowowow!!! That's a fantastic series Brian! I guess you were happy about the result... The 3rd and 4th are wonderful!

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