Bully for me!

In the garden to the front of my house I am very fortunate to have a Rowan tree and at this time of the year it is laden with berries, thousands of them. The berries act as a magnet to the local bird population and at almost anytime during the day one species or another can be seen gorging on the fruit. 

Starlings, Blackbirds and winter Thrushes are the most common visitors but they have to keep a watchful eye out for the resident Mistle Thrush. He thinks he is the king and owner of the tree and doesn't take kindly to any other bird taking his berries. He has a constant battle guarding and chasing off the other birds and recently whilst I was watching him do his macho thing I noticed a new visitor to the tree........a pair of Bullfinches!

Although Bullfinches are not rare they are still a cracking bird and very welcome visitor to my garden. They only seem to make a couple of visits per year so  I wasted no time and rushed into the house to grab the camera. I went upstairs and viewed out of the front window, luckily the Mistle Thrush was so pre-occupied chasing off the Starlings it left the Bullfinches alone to feed and pose nicely for me. 

What a result, my best ever Bullfinch images!

merry xmas

Snow good!

This morning when I opened the curtains I was met with a light ground covering of snow, oh goodie! I'd been hoping for this for a while and it ment I could go and get some wintery images of some of the local owls.

I opted to visit my very reliable Little Owl site No 105 near to South Wigston, as usual a brief wait and the male owl emerged from its cozy nest hole, trouble was by the time I eventually arrived on site the snow had all but melted, dooohhh!

The light was pretty good most of the time which enabled me to get some nice images, but they are not what I was after.........not a snow flake in sight!

600 seconds!

I knew it was a risk, the weather forecast was appalling, I chanced my luck and my wait was rewarded with a nearby owl in changing light for a whopping ten minutes, the wind then got up and the heavens opened...........so I went home!

Pretty Pleased

A quick stop off to see if any owls were showing, I wasn't expecting much activity as these strong winds we are having of late tends to keep them down. To my surprise they were up, the light wasn't very good for photography so I opted to just watch them for ten minutes or so.  

Then the horrid grey clouds broke and the sun shone through, to coincide with this a solitary owl was quartering nearby and getting nearer. In a mad rush the camera was soon out and then the owl approached near enough to rattled off a few frames.

I couldn't believe my luck, normally when I visit this site there has been loads of preparation and hours of waiting, but today I guess it was a case of right place at the right time!

I'm chuffed to bits with the outcome, just goes to show how some nice light can really enhance an image.

Getting Repetitive.

I'm still going through the couple of hundred SEO images from last weekend, during the shoot the sun was very low in the sky and offered a brilliant "golden glow" to my images. But at the same time it also caused some very harsh shadows, which to be fair has made vetting the images a little easier as they have all been trashed! This has still left me with well over a hundred "usable" images but the problem is they are all very similar and uploading something a bit different is not easy.

I know the cropping/composition isn't the best but I'm limited to portrait style images only in the larger format on this blog.

So apologies if this latest batch seem to be a bit repetitive, I'll try harder for something a bit different next time......

Tempted Back!

Recently I said that I was going to get back to concentrating on my Little Owls after spending far too much time with the Short Eared Owls..........well I lied!!!!! I Just couldn't resist another visit and finally I was blessed with great views and glorious golden light. 

In total I managed 225 images, I'm still working my way through processing them all but below are a few that I've done so far, oh and the new header. I think they have come out pretty well and I'm really pleased with the outcome.

Hope you agree?

All that is needed now to get some really pin sharpe images is a new Canon 500mm F4 lens to replace my old Sigma, so if anyone out there would like to donate one........I'm ya man!!!!!!!

Not much to offer!

This weekend didn't produce much for me in terms of publishable images, it wasn't for lack of trying though. I was short of time for loads of owling but when I did get out "on site" they didn't play ball. The SEO's were always distant and when they finally came close enough to photograph it was too dam dark!

Distant SEO in the failing light. 

I also spent time at some of my Little Owl sites, this owl (below) was the only one prepared to offer some nice views, still struggled with the poor light though!

Brighter times!

Today I took my last day off work for this year, it was booked a week or so ago and it was a bit of a gamble on what the weather would be like? I lost the gamble badly as it has been bloody atrocious here in Leicestershire........all day!

High winds and driving rain made it a total no no for going out, so I have made the most of a bad thing and spent some time organising my owl images from yesterday, these didn't make the first cut as I thought they were sub standard but seeing as I don't have any other new images to post they will have to do.

So in keeping with the theme "Little Owls" here are a few more images that were taken only 24 hours ago, when the weather was far more forgiving!

The grass is not greener.

As anyone who is a regular reader of this blog will know, just recently I have been playing away! I have been indulging myself with my guilty pleasure........Short Eared Owls. There is no hiding the fact that my head had been turned and my life long birding love, the Little Owl had definitely taken a back seat.

Well today it was a case of "better the devil you know" my long standing affair with the "little one" was rekindled, I was taking a day off work and what better way to spend it than catching up with my old mates.....that is if I could locate some?

I spent the morning over at a couple of known sites near to South Wigston, luckily enough some birds were located with the added bonus that the light was just fantastic, so no excuses there!

I've been trying to convince myself of late that the Short Eared Owl were a much more handsome and photogenic subject than the Little Owl............I think I may have got it wrong?

It was good to be back with the little "uns".

Back with the 'little un's" soon!

Firstly I must apologise for all the SEO images that have completely taken over my blog recently, I promise that once I've had "my fix" I'll get back to the local Little & Barn owls. Anyhow, during my most recent visit to see the SEO's the views were excellent but the light was atrocious.

Normally when presented with conditions like this I very rarely have any "keepers" but beings as I am starting to perfect shooting in manual mode (well sort of) I have now started to surprise myself just what is possible!

Due to the constraints of the blog layout this first image of a SEO calling in flight is as large as I can make it because it is in a landscape format, just double click on it for a larger version.

Although this next image lends itself better to be again cropped in a landscape mode it did have enough space to crop it in portrait.  

All fingers and thumbs!

Its addictive this SEO watching, I was compelled to make yet another visit on Saturday. The weather was indifferent though, one minute it was dull and drab the next the clouds broke and the sun shone through.

I was lucky enough to yet again get some superb views of these majestic birds, at times they came close, too close sometimes as I couldn't fit them into the frame and ended up cropping off their wings!!  

The light levels were forever changing and this proved to be challenging at times. Trying to get the correct exposure was tough, especially when the birds were moving from high up in the sky to low down over the grass in a matter of seconds. So in order to try and over come this I had a go at shooting in manual mode (thanks for that Pete!) this involves continually adjusting the exposure, ISO, depth of field and taking the shot all at the same time, oh and I forgot to mention whilst doing all that you also have to track the bird in flight as well!

Using this new technique resulted in loads of crappy images, I was all fingers and thumbs because I just wasn't able to change the settings quick enough, there was loads of good opportunities wasted! However, as the day progressed I was starting to get the hang of it which resulted in a few keepers. Yes it is as difficult as it sounds but I think in time I will slowly perfect the technique, all I'll need then is a Canon lens!!!    

  I took loads and loads of images and below is a selection of them.....

 

This final image (almost full frame) is of the closest encounter I had all day, it was flying straight at me and I just couldn't "lock on" to it, then just as it went overhead (about 10ft away) I locked on  and unbelievably caught the action, well sort of.........! 

Best batch todate?

My patience and continued studying of the SEO's finally paid dividends today, the word has obviously got around now about the SEO's at this site and each time I visit the watching crowd continues to swell. This makes it more of a challenge to get any decent images as the owls are being pushed further away from where they were comfortable when they first arrived.

So rather than stand in a group at the hedgerow with everyone else I employed slightly different tactics and they paid off. Along with some better light and accommodating owls I think this latest batch is probably my best to date? 

Double click any "landscape" image for larger and much improve quality.

Dinner is served in the form of a vole.

Not wanting to forget my other friends, the Little Owls. Here is my latest and long over due image from my site No 101. My first sighting at this location for over 6 months!