Some more Barn Owls 28th June 2015

This male barn owl was hunting in a field of long grass this evening. Unfortunately he was just a little too far away to get the shots I'd have liked but I was still pleased to get a shot of him in mid-dive.... like a gannet diving!

Bottlenose Dolphins, North Cornwall 23rd June 2015.

 I spent an exhilarating hour with this pod of Bottlenose Dolphins this morning off of the North Cornwall coast.

Out in the boat with skipper Will Delacour, we had these large mammals having a great time riding our wake and also a bit of bow riding as well.

It was so exciting as they were within a metre of the boat and kept popping out the water to check us out.

Almost all the photos were taken with a wide angle zoom lens the Nikon 18-105 mm, with me hanging over the side in various uncomfortable positions!


Below is a small selection of over 400 images I took!

Barn Owl with vole 22nd June 2015

I got lucky this evening with the barn owls after spending an hour lurking in the shadows with my camera and getting quite cold despite the sunshine in the meadow.

Suddenly and without any warning the male owl dropped about 30 feet in front of me onto a vole.

I prefocussed on the long grass where I thought he was and waited until he took off again.

My focussing wasn't bad but could have been a bit sharper, nevertheless he flew right towards me and then proceeded to perch in a tree behind me . I could see him through the foliage and I think he was trying to remove some of the debris he'd collected when he hit the vole as there are quite a few bits of grass and stuff in his beak along with the vole.

Another bonus was that I've at last identified which nest box he's in as I saw him go to the box and I heard owlets hissing to be fed.

There are a lot of voles in the meadows at the moment and it's nothing to see 3 or 4 scurrying away under your feet so they shouldn't have any trouble feeding their brood.

Reed Warbler 20th June 2015

I spent a bit of time with this little Reed Warbler that was singing it's heart out between bursts of food carrying to a nest hidden deep in the reeds.

Several shots of the same bird which was posing well for my camera.

Common Dolphins, North Cornwall 15th June 2015

Spent a great day aboard Atlantic Diver counting breeding seabirds north of the Camel estuary.

Really encouraging numbers of auks ie. razorbills, guillemots and a couple of puffins nesting along our coast.

Picked up a few common dolphins on the way up but came across quite a few on the return that were bow riding the boat.

Always fantastic to see.... and so close to home!

More Cornish Barn Owls ... 14th June 2015.

A few more goes at capturing a classic image of a barn owl in flight this evening.

Bright sunshine proved to more of a hindrance than a blessing as when the bird was against dark foliage I needed to underexpose and when it was against the bright sky I needed to over expose.... and the owl just went from one to another without a thought of how fast I could change the camera settings!

Still there's always tomorrow night!

Barn Owl and Roe Deer in the same meadow at the same time! 11th June 2015.

It was the dullest evening for the past week but I managed to get a few images of a barn owl as it flew towards the barn with a vole in it's talons.

After it returned to the meadow to hunt I noticed a small Roe deer doe feeding in the long grass.
Gradually she made her way closer and as I stayed motionless I waited before pressing the shutter, thinking I'd only get one opportunity before she sprung away at a rate of knots!

Well I was wrong and because it was a still evening and my scent hadn't spooked her she got curious and ventured ever closer.

It was gone 9 o'clock and beginning to get quite dark so I metered manually and was taking pictures at 1/10th of a second exposure.... and deleting most of them. Fortunately some of them were ok and it's a few of those I post here tonight.