Early Morning Start

With a crisp frost and clear forecast i decided on a early start this morning, wanted to grab some shots of some local barn owls i have been watching recently. Arrived at the site just after 7.30am, unloaded the car and headed off towards where i had decided would be a good place, after about 15 steps my sleepy eyes focused on something white sat on a wire fence, BINGO, the owls were out and about as i had hoped.. I carried on and set myself up against a grass bank where i knew they hunted, put my bad hide over me and waited. Just before the sun came up i got a glimpse of 2 Barn Owls, a Marsh Harrier and a male Hen Harrier. The Marsh Harrier came to see what i was upto but the light was still gloomy to get any shots, however, true to form the Barn Owls stayed out hunting until about 9.30am, i was after a shot of them perched but had to settle for some flight shots this time round......

At about 11am with the owls out of sight i decided to call it a day, just as i was packing away 2 Bewick Swans passed overhead......

And just for good measure i had a quick look at Marshside before heading home for a turkey sandwich!!!

Thanks Andy

High Tide

With the tide predicted at 9.36m today i decided to head out to the shore line to try and photograph some waders. The secret when doing this is to get in position early and let the tide push the birds towards you. Having walked my intended site the day before with the RSPB warden (which was nice!) I had a good idea of what kind of shots i was after ... however as with wildlife photography it didnt quite happen like that!!!!

I managed to get a few shots of flocks of Dunlin, Oystercatchers and a few Grey Plover as they tazzed past but not the low level feeding shots i was after. It wasnt helped by it being a v calm day and there was no wind to push the tide up higher. Anyhow i got there about 70mins before high tide and set myself up under my bag hide, after a few mins a large flock of Oystercatchers gave me a great fly by ....... and that was about it until after high tide!!! As i was walking back to the car, i stopped to pick my bottom lip up off the floor and noticed large flocks of waders heading my way, so with a quick fumble i got set up again! Dunlin .......vroooommm ..... Grey Plover vroom .... fantastic, the sound they made as they crashed past me about 10ft away was awesome!!

Camera Specs: Nikon D2xs, Sigma 500mm, tripod with sidekick head, bag hide, muddy knees and a wet bum!

ISO: 320 , 1/800th @ f8 all photos

RAW file, converted using Bibble and CS3

See you Soon!!

Hoping to get some Barn Owl shots leading up to Christmas ..... keep looking!!

Brown Hares

Have been trying to find the time to get out and photograph some Brown Hares and over the past couple of weeks have managed to finally track some down. Hares have a fantastic sense of smell and vision, that is unless they are looking or coming strainght towards you and then their eyesight seems to let them down..

I stumbled accross these Hares playing on a farm track out towards Formby, so, with the help of my bag hide i sat myself down in the long grass and waited to see what they would do, after a while it was apparant that they were very nervous, perhaps last years christmas aftershave has gone off and they could smell me!!

Anyhow, after a while they came within lens range and i managed to get a few shots of before they ran off into the long grass, never to be seen again.

I shall be returning over the next week, so youll have to enjoy these 3 for now

Thanks

Andy

Nikon D2xs, Sigma 500mm, Bag Hide, Tripod for all photos

ISO 400, 1/125th - 1/180th @f5.6

RAW file and processed in Bibble Pro and Photoshop CS3

Welcome & Short Eared Owls

Welcome to my new blog, have decided to do it this way so i can give you a more detailed insight into my wildlife photography.

Short Eared Owls

On Tuesday i decided to head over to Pilling on the Fylde Coast to try and track down the 3 SEOs that had been reported to have taken up winter residency over there. With the weather looking slightly grim i trusted the weather forcast and set off hoping the wintery showers would move over to leave a bright afternoon as predicted. I called in to the UCLAN campus on the way over to locate the Waxwings that are around at the moment, no photos possible due to the birds being up high and the weather being appauling. I carried on up the A6 and reached the site at around 1pm, i sat myself into a ditch, covered myself and the camera with a bag hide and sat and and waited for 30mins and then, in the distance, i noticed 3 birds playing high over a field, a quick check thru the bins revealed 3 Short Eared Owls .... wow! after a short time playing that got down to some serious hunting ...... with one of the birds choosing the field right in front of me, my 500mm was too close sometimes and i will experiment with shorter lenses in the near future

After a brief session of about 20mins the showers returned and the Owls took to the shelter of a hedge .... and i headed home, happy with my first outing photographing this wonderful bird.

All the images were taken using the following:

Nikon D2xs, Sigma 500mm Lens, Manfrotto Tripod with Sidekick, Bag Hide,

Camera Settings: ISO 640, AF-C, RAW, 1/100th - 1/250th all at F.5.6

Thanks

Andy