Haring about after Owls

Title say's it all really; last night I had a great evening with a great friend, Major Gilbert, we spent several hours trying our luck with the Norfolk Owl and Hare population, despite some pretty garbage light and strong wind it turned out to be both successful and fun too!

More of the Spotted Flycatchers

Another couple of sessions with the Spotted Flycatchers has been great fun, I introduced a more photogenic perch, and within seconds it was sat on the green cable tie I attached it with! Once the cable tie was trimmed the bird just kept returning to the new perch, perfect.

"Spotties" at last

A target species for me this year as I really needed to top up my stock of Spotted Flycatcher shots at a higher resolution. Despite looking at several sites where they have been in the past I have found them difficult to pin down; I have seen them, but none that were in locations suitable for serious photography, and then all on the same day I found 3 pairs that were very workable, all are in churchyards too!

Barn Owl face to face.

I have spent very many enjoyable hours photographing Barn Owls, the sight of one always excites me, but this bird was a real surprise!
I usually have a camera with me when travelling in the car, and very early Saturday morning was no exception; at the nearby village of Steeple Morden where there are houses either side of the road I saw what I thought at first was a cat sat on a fence by a bungalow, that was until the "cat" took off and flew down the road to perch a fence post by asmall paddock. It was too far away for a decent shot so I made a little squeaky noise, as you can see in the pictures it flew straight towards me as if to come into the window of the car; it then spent about 5 minutes perched just above my head on the car roof!
The glow of the rising sun on the ripening Barley made such a great soft focus backdrop that compliments the Owl's colours, a great way to start the day!