Three Of A Kind

I make no apologies for posting yet more images of barn owls.It is a wonderful bird to photograph and observe and I have been fortunate recently with some excellent sightings of a local barn owl.Last Saturday I was in position at the location before 7a.m.and the owls were already on the wing.It was a fabulous Spring morning with early frost and the bitter wind of late had subsided.There were three barn owls out hunting and one image above does show, just, all three together.The owls did appear to be enjoying the early morning warm sunshine and spent time perched up whilst surveying their territory.

I enjoyed myself with the camera and took many hundreds of images the better ones of which I have shown above.As I was about to leave I found one of the owls was perched on the post I had earlier provided.This obviously meant a delay as I fired off yet more shots.The owl was beautifully lit by the morning sun and I took advantage of this perfect situation with yet more images for the portfolio. I hope you enjoy the images and thanks for looking in.  

Pheasant and Grouse

Yes that's what is on the menu for this week's post, Pheasant and Grouse..On my travels recently I visited a superb viewpoint in the Bowland Fells known as Clougha Pike. Clougha is over a thousand feet high and provides a wonderful viewpoint from the Lancashire coastline round to the Lake District mountains and to the east the three peaks of Yorkshire. It is also a good place to see red grouse and at this time of the year they are on territory.The cock birds are easy to see as they perch up on rocks and heather proclaiming their right to a patch of moorland but the females are less easy to see. I have shown above a few images of Clougha's red grouse which were very approachable and a nice bird to photograph

The images of the cock pheasant shown above were taken as the sun rose early morning. I was waiting for barn owls to come out hunting. They did emerge eventually but didn't come close as on previous visits. The cock pheasant however was on top form as he displayed to a nearby female and provided me with some nice opportunities with the camera. Hope you enjoy my efforts and thanks for looking in.

Early Birds

Recently I have made a couple of early morning visits to see a local barn owl. It has been very frosty first thing but the sun was very welcome and the nagging east wind had subsided a little.On my first visit the barn owl very obligingly perched up on a post that I had provided and made a nice image in the morning sun.The owls didn't stay around for long and didn't catch prey whilst I was there.Maybe the prolonged bitter winter weather has had a detrimental effect on prey numbers.It was still wonderful to watch and photograph these enigmatic birds and I hope you enjoy looking at my efforts above.