Welney Dawn Visit

I booked for the Swans Awake at Welney Wildfowl Trust Centre hoping for those evocative images of flocks of swans going overhead in dawn light. I knew the likelihood of a good dawn was slim but we had a beautiful sunrise. Unfortunately the other factor didn't materialise as the swans almost all left their feeding grounds to the west over to Manea. There was compensation in a hunting Barn Owl. A group of 7 from CCC spent the rest of the morning at Welney - more pics later when time to process.

Barn Owls at Wicken Fen

We were treated to views of two Barn Owls hunting over the reeds from the Boardwalk Hide, some of them quite close but the light had dropped quite a long way by then. Lovely to capture the combination of reed and owl feather patterns.

Soft Beauty of Barn Owls in flight

The silent feathers of the Barn Owl are in strong contrast to the sharp eyes and beaks. Images taken at the Raptor Foundation near St Ives Cambridgeshire.

Wicken Fen - RPS Outing

As so often, the weather let us down a bit at Wicken, especially for the bird photographers. Although, in the morning the skies were interesting for landscape work, there was not enough light generally to do the landscape justice. I used the full armoury of graduated filters, stacked panoramas (image 4) and HDR (5) to try and get a feel of the vastness of the reeds and skies at Wicken. The image I liked best was the simplest - reflections of two reeds in the water. In the afternoon, we settled into the Broadwalk Hide to wait for the Hen Harriers and were rewarded with 3 hunting Barn Owls, a murmuration of Starlings, 2 Marsh Harriers and several Hen Harriers but by then it was too dark for my camera.

Barn Owls at Lakenheath RSPB

 Thrilled to see and photograph (albeit rather distant) a barn owl in wonderful warm evening light at RSPB Lakenheath. We were also lucky to see a pair of Cranes in flight, a Bittern and various Harriers coming into roost.

Wild Herons and Captive Owls in Wiltshire

These Herons come into feed at the Hawk Conservancy site in Wiltshire. I have been once before and the weather was exactly the same - thick cloud and cold. I would love to see them in good light as they come fairly close. The Great GreyOwl and Snowy Owl gave great flying displays.

Trip to Wicken

It was such a beautiful bright afternoon, I couldn't resist a trip to Wicken for the bird feeders and Burwell Fen for the Owls. The Woodpecker and Goldfinch are from the Roger Clarke Hide. There were still 6 Short-eared Owls in all on Burwell Fen that I counted, one of which flew so close to where I was sat in a ditch that it frightened itself as well as me. This is the first image and it is not cropped!! After that it hunted a bit away from me giving a wary look every time it passed.

Short-eared Owls

Phil and I dusted off our long lenses and took a trip to Burwell Fen to look for the Short-eared Owl invasion that had been well publicised on the Bird internet sites. Sure enough we managed to see at least five different individuals; maybe more. The birds were all very different in coloration; I don't know if this relates to their breeding area as these birds have probably come here from a variety of summer habitats.They each seemed to hold a territory for hunting - two spent a lot of time squabbling or maybe just playing with each other and with some crows. The first shot shows Wicken Fen windpump in the background to give the location.