Short Eared Owl, Round III- Undisclosed site, Cheshire

With shorties I feel i've almost 'made it' with Owls, and yesterday I got my best shots yet. I could never tire of doing shorties, they're just such wonderfully dynamic birds. I have seen a fair few birds now, but these ones were by far and away the most obliging, although these shots took five gruelling hours in the wind, rain and without gloves too! The oportunity can be attributed to Mike Nesbitt, and these are really 'his' owls, he's worked so hard with them since november and I've just piggybacked on the back of that. Still, here are my offerings...

Off he went, quartering the field looking for any unfortunate rodents in his path...

...and in for a closer look right in front of me, stooping in on his prey...!

...and a composite of the owl going in for the kill...

...and onto a post! Right in front of me, looking for where the shutter sound came from...



...Found you...!                                                                                                                                            



What an awesome bird, completely brilliant experience!                                                                                



Short Eared Owl, Round II- I said I'd be back...

First day out since my break. Wanted to visit my site in North Wales (well I say 'my' site..) but Arriva decided that sunday was the best day to pospone all trains in that direction. Great. I love public transport. Turns out this wasn't as bad as first thought, nor was the ensuing snow. I got up Saturday to find the stuff falling thick and fast around me. Trains were cancelled nationwide, I almost lost heart! However, a kind offer from a certain Mr Cookson (who's website can be found on the right of the page) saw me heading out Lancashire-bound, admittedly in pea-soup fog! Still, as I got out this cleared slightly. This continued until I had a clear sky. Things were looking up. As I arrived an owl was hunting, but soon perched. A stealthy approach revealed this rather interesting looking individual...



But soon he/she was off on the hunt, so was I...



...but with a bit of photoshop this looks relatively good...



A rather enjoyable session, bring on Round III!

Heading for the light...

And with a bound he was free! Exams are over (briefly), a period of grace falls for me. Hoping to capitalize on this relinquishing of the pressure and will hit the field soon. I continue to feed the garden birds from a new feeder, so watch this space. For now, some choice stuff from last year...







But for now, I bid thee farewell. (OK, none of those shots are connected at all)

Goldilocks

I simply wish to show what lovely birds Goldfinches are. I've been watching 'my' birds, a group of 5, for a few weeks now. Over this period i've moved the perches nearer the position I watch from, until finally I had them within a 5m radius. This was a test really of the camera's capacity for low light low apature shooting, and boy did it work, got some of my best Goldie images yet...!









And a sunset over suburban manchester...



See? Its not all bad when you're stuck in the house all day reading up on what seems every subject under the sun!

Turning over a new stone...

The Turnstone is not an uncommon bird, but they tend to be rather skittish. This is the case especially when photographing them, since they're even more wary if you follow them around. I was lucky enough to find some 'tame' birds last year and took full advantage of the oportunity offered, foresaking my family for a few hours to watch these wonderful birds on a quayside. I've heard of them eating cat food from the hand up in Nairn, Scotland, but I was happy just to watch them running about...





The Grindstone...

Jesus of Suburbia is a song by an american punk-rock band. I too would like to pay homage to certain saviours of suburban Manchester. Not been out much, exams looming and all that. Something to do with grades, anyway! No photography at any rate, so i've been out very locally, had some nice stuff on the feeders too. The cold snap has finally got me some good 'ns, with a pair of goldfinch visiting every few minutes. Couple of shots here from the last few weeks which have been largely bird free. First off, a Blue Tit from a local feeding station...

My local dove...

This lovely goldie, actually sitting where I wanted him to! Got some new perches to piss about with so watch this space...

And the woodpigeon, who doesn't love a good woodie shot...?

...and the world of BW. I have of late experimented with the world of black and white to add impact to an image. A few of my first attempts below...

 Anyway, I hope to be doing some more photography next month, this one hasn't been the greatest!

The Real Rocky...

Forget steroid pumped boxers, the real rocky can be found on peaks of over 3000ft all over Scotland. I was lucky to see two ptarmigan last year, one of which was on a nest. For the sake of these birds it just isn't worth publishing exact locations on the t'interweb, but suffice to say it was bloody difficult to find them! Once found and actually spotted, a ptarmigan is very accommodating, relying on their cryptic camoflage rather than speed. This is a female bird...



Simply stunning birds. Just remember to keep your eyes open good folks up north of the boarder, you may accidentally step on one!