Red Kites yet again

Visited Watlington Hill as staying overnight in Thame. Kites very busy clearing up remnants of picnics. One appeared to have an egg or golf ball. Liked the last picture as it shows how the kite uses the secondary feathers as flaps to manouevre in the dive.

More Red Kites

Today, there was blue sky and sunshine, which helped the birds against the sky giving more colour and contrast but made them more difficult to photograph against bright hillside backgrounds.

The first 2 images below show the birds against the attractive background of the Chiltern Hills and Woods. In the last 2 images the birds are progressively closer so the background is more out of focus. (all at 2500th sec, f2.8 ISO400 )

Red Kites

We visited Watlington Hill on the way to talk at Wallingford Photographic Club and the Red Kites were in superb form. The first image was one of many where the kites came very close to inspect us. The bland sky was not in our favour. However, the good thing about being on the hill is that you can photograph the Kites against a background and you get top, underneath and sideway views.

Visit Raptor Foundation St Ives

A few images from the flying sessions at St Ives. The falcons are always my favourites and this Lanner was no exception performing very well. The Kestrel and Eagle Owl also kept to pretty predictable paths. The Bald Eagle was from a static display while the Little Owl was meant to be flying but was too worried by an overhead wild Buzzard.

Falcons and Kites

Some images of Falcons (Saker and Lanner) and Black Kites from Thursday. It was a dull day so I had to use a fairly high ISO to get sufficient shutterspeed. In the final image the Falconer was catapaulting food high into the air and the Black Kites were attempting to catch it.

Owls

Four very attractive species of owl photographed at Hawk Conservancy Centre on Thursday - lovely setting but very difficult for the camera to pick up the owls as they fly through the trees. Two noctornal owls with dark eyes, the Ural Owl and Tawny Owl, and two crepuscular owls with amber eyes, the Eagle Owl and Snowy Owl.

Barn Owl Take Off

Two shots of a Barn Owl getting airborn in beautiful evening light.

A few more images from our Birds of Prey day.

The kestrels were very graceful both in flight and when taking off. This is a first year male so has not yet fully developed the grey head .

The Buzzard was less graceful but had a great presence and its long and powerful talons were very evident - we kept our distance.

Long-eared and Tawny Owl

We spent very enjoyable 7 hours photographing Birds of Prey in Bedfordshire yesterday. Here are a couple of the shots of owls taken as evening approached and the light was great.

Lakenheath birds

A few pictures from today's trip to Lakenheath Fen on the way back from collecting work from the Gallery in Watton. The birds were a bit distant and there was a considerable heat haze. There were up to 6 Marsh Harriers and 10 Hobbies in the air at once some of the time. A wonderful sight. I am not sure what the Hobbies were feeding on as I only saw one damselfly (a red one) but the air was thick with Alderflies. There was also a Cuckoo in full song - the first I have heard this year.