Early Birds

On another beautiful summer's day in the current spell of settled weather I had decided on an early start to hopefully see and photograph a pair of barn owls which had been providing excellent views early morning and late evening at a location not very far from home. I was at the site before six a.m. and was soon joined by my good friend Martin, a very keen local bird photographer and naturalist. We concealed ourselves at a convenient spot overlooking an area favoured by the owls for hunting.
For around an hour or so there was no sign of the barn owls and we thought they may have retired early following a good night's hunting. This thankfully wasn't the case and around six fifty a.m. they appeared. For the next quarter of an hour they patrolled around the area where we waited and we were treated to some fabulous close views of these enigmatic and very beautiful birds. We were kept very busy with the cameras and managed to obtain an excellent series of images.
Martin had to leave early and I stayed on for about another hour but the owls chose to hunt in areas out of camera range but it was still a delight to observe them on a beautiful summer's morning. Around eight thirty a.m. I decided to leave them in peace and head home for breakfast and to reflect on what had been a superb early morning with these wonderful birds. Some images are shown above, a selection of many I took, and I am sure I will post a few more in the days to come. Hope my readers enjoy looking at them as much as I did in capturing them. I must make the effort again soon and join the owls on their early morning hunting forays.