Few from Spring, 2015

Bess, the Border Collie

Here are a few photos that I have taken this year but have yet to share. They were taken with my Nikon, hence why you have not seen them yet :-)

I was hanging around one evening at work, and we had the first decent spell of evening light so I took advantage and took a couple of portraits of Bess.

A few weeks a go now our red deer cast their antlers. They do this every year in the Spring, and then over the next 16 weeks grow a brand new set... usually larger than their previous set! Remarkable really that they can grow them that fast.

Above is Albus Dumbledeer on the right, and Olivandeer on the left... Do we have a Harry Potter fan at the Centre you may well ask?.. Well, yes... we do :-)

As you can see, they don't always cast their antlers at the same time leaving them looking a little silly...

... but not as silly as when both have cast. They then just look like a big female until their new antlers begin to show through.

Walking over to work one morning, and came across this little fella on the path in the rain. Took the opportunity to take a quick photo.

Where does the "Badass problem solver" go when he has things on his mind?.. He turns to nature. It has an easy way of simplifying things, putting things in to perspective and making you appreciate everything. I like a place that only I know, and this is mine.

Fawkes is a short eared owl. Not many are on display in Britain, and ours is one of a handful that can be used for photography workshops. He is beautiful!

The short eared is my favourite owl in the world, so when I tagged on to the owl day a couple of weeks ago to get some in the bluebells... I also made sure I was their for when they did Fawkes.

I am very picky with my photographs of Fawkes, and got some strange looks when I placed him on the gravel in the middle of nowhere... but by framing it right and using the right angles, you can really make something out of nothing.

Full facial disc.

And the back of the head... Yes I did mean this... their latin name is Asio flammeus, named due to their feathers looking like fire and you can see why above.

Thanks for looking :-)

BWC Owl Day

Snowy Owl

Following on from my photos taken on an open day, here are a few photos I took on an owl day I joined in on a couple of weeks ago. This is for the third of three bits I am writing, the pics from the second (a BWC Photo Day) I will post in a week or so.

As with the open day, the weather was not great. It didn't rain... which would of stopped the owls all together, but there was no light for most of the day with very little light for the rest of it! However, we of course soldier on, and overall I was pleased with a few of the ones I got.

Snowy Owl Feathers

We always start off with the snowy owl and the short eared owl on our owl days, as they are the ones which are more likely to get fed up sooner. Don't get me wrong, they are both still used to cameras and do settle, but they also call time sooner than the others.

Hedwig, our snowy owl, is always difficult as his natural setting would deb in the snow. But we place him on the ground for some more natural pics and put him on a large post for some portraits. The portrait above is not necessarily natural, but it makes a nice picture and we find a lot of photographers that come on our days are just interested in that.

With the light particularly poor first thing I took a lot of more abstract stuff, and was particularly pleased with the close up of the feathers above.

Short-eared Owl

Once Hedwig has had enough, we move on to Fawkes out short-eared owl. This is another ground nesting bird, and so we try to find areas in the rough grass to make it a bit more natural. In amongst the more marsh type reeds and tussocky grass. However, on the day there was a lovely patch of daisies and I just couldn't resist a "pretty" picture of him surrounded by them.

With all our owls we try to place them in two or three different places for you to photograph them. Some more natural, and others for simple portraits, and we are always open to new ideas of where to try them.

Short-eared Owl

I think Fawkes is a stunning owl, and short-eareds are possibly my favourite owl in the world. On a post he makes for a beautiful portrait.

Long-eared Owl

Usually next up on our list would be one of our tawny owls, but with the light so dire we decided to stay more in the open and brought out Archimedes... our long-eared owl. He was having a bit of an off day and was very sleepy, so we didn't see much of his eyes.

Long-eared Owl

When a bit of light did appear for the briefest of moments, we rushed in to the woods with him to place him on one of my favourite sets. Unfortunately again... his eyes remained closed, but I did manage to get these two in a short period when he was alert. The close up above...

Long-eared Owl

... and a much wider one too. I have photographed Achimedes here so many times, I was looking for something a bit different to what I normally do. I'm not sure if this really worked, but still it is good to try!

Tawny Owl

Staying in the woods it was time for the tawny owl, and we used Florence. Our tawnies are often the stars of the show, and I could happily photograph just them all day! There are so many options as to where to put them that we really need to keep an eye on the time to make sure we don't spend to much time with them.

Florence Preening

All our owls settle fairly quickly, but Florence is such a pro now that she immediately forgets that the cameras are there and just watches the world or even preens herself.

This is where we usually call for a break, and stop for some lunch and a swap around with the owls. After the quick change around we are then ready for the afternoon of owl photography.

Little Owl Peeking

This normally starts off with our little owl, Scrappy! He is such a character, and makes for some amazing photographs. I built a little stone wall a couple of years a go (re-built a few times since), and most people laugh when they see it... but framed int he right way it offers some great photo opportunities. I will do a post later in the week showing just the wall.

One of my favourites of the day was this one above of Scrappy half hidden half seen in the nook in the wall.

Wild Fox

While photographing Scrappy in the wall, we had a visitor who wanted to join in! He didn't stay long after seeing us.

Little Owl

Often we just place the little owl on the ground too. They eat a lot of invertebrates, and so it is not rare to see them on the ground beetling for food.

Barn Owl

Next up are the barn owls. You have probably seen lots of barn owl photos from our owl days before, we have a beautiful old gate which we perch them on, and a hide we can get them peeking around as above.

Barn Owl in Flight

The barn owl is one of two owls we fly on the day too. We also fly the tawny owl in the woods if it is light enough, or down one of the tracks more in the open if the light is not too great.

Barn Owl Panning

With movement I often try to do a bit of panning with a slow shutter.

Ethel, European Eagle Owl

We then finish the day with Ethel, our European eagle owl. Again ground shots in the dead bracken look quite nice, and we also have an old rotten tree trunk which makes the perfect perch for her to sit on.

All the photos above where taken on the same day, on one of our owl days, and with no advantages over what you get if you come along to one of them. Overall I was very happy with what I got considering the conditions, and extremely pleased with two or three of them.

For the article I have been asked to use a variety of photos over the past year to show what is possible in different situations for both this and the BWC photographic day. I may well post these pics later in the year too to show you what was used.

Thanks for looking.

Owl Awareness Day (Yesterday)

Fly Over

Apparently it was International Owl Awareness Day yesterday... That one slipped me by! Never mind, here are a couple of owl photos in any case.

Big Pete flying above. 

Tawny Owl

Florence in the evening light, this photo is being used for a section in my talk next week.

Evening Barn Owl

I believe this is one of our old owls, Tutoke, taken a few years a go now. I liked the tree in the background.

Nessun Dorma

 Florence singing the opera :-)

Close Up of Archimedes

Close up of Archimedes.

Short-eared Owl in the Snow

Fawkes in the snow.

Long-eared Owl Peeking

And finally, Archimedes peeking around the edge of a tree.

Thanks for looking.

Short Eared Owl

Short Eared Owl, Asio flammeus

Next up on my list is the Short Eared Owl... Now for me this is the most beautiful owl you will find living in the UK, and quite possibly the most beautiful owl in the world. We have just the one at the BWC, "Fawkes", and we are lucky to have him as they are extremely rare in captivity. 

We hope to be able to find him a mate in the future, and attempt to breed them, but chances are slim. However, if we can find him a mate, we have Julian Ford from Huxley's Falconry Centre on hand to help us with their breeding. He has successfully bred them in the past, and is keen to help.

Short Eared Owl

Fawkes is steady on the glove, and comfortable to be viewed by the public, but he still knows he is an owl and was not hand-reared. Would it be possible to train him to fly?.. I think so, yes, but it would be a lot harder to do than with the rest of our flying team which were hand reared and imprinted. Couple this with the fact he is our only one, I think the risks say best not.

Above is one of my favourite photos of Fawkes. They are ground nesting birds, and so this is more suited to how you may see them in the wild when not flying.

Side-lit Short Eared Owl

We still use Fawkes for our Owl Photographic days, which allows you the opportunity to photograph all seven British owls in one day down on our nature reserve. Above was taken one evening while scouting out the evening light with Andy Rouse in preparation of his owl workshops he runs here. Softly side lit, showing the difference in pupil size in dark and light, and the light allowing to find a natural black background.

Short Eared Owl in the Evening Light

Another side lit one above, on another night, and slightly earlier in the evening. This one shows off his ear tufts nicely. It's not often you see our short eared owls tufts, but as you can see he does have them, they are just, well, short.

Short Eared Owl in Yellow

Another of him on the ground. This one was during the day in the summer, but when it was a bit overcast to avoid the harsh light. Placed in the yellow flowers to compliment his eyes. Is it natural?.. Possibly not, but it makes a pretty picture. 

Fawkes in his new home

And finally, thought I had to include at least one from our new aviaries in these posts. Above is Fawkes in his new home.

Our new aviaries are a huge improvement on the old ones, and allows you to see the owls much better, whilst being better for them too. Win win. Fawkes has settled in extremely well, and is usually perched on the branch above in the middle and back of the pen, or is sat on the ground to the back left under some rush.

You can see our new pens do allow for photography of the owls, this photo was taken from outside the aviary and from behind the stand off barrier, but as I always say for something a bit more special/natural... that's what our photographic days are for.

You can see his ear tufts again too which is nice.

Thanks for looking.