It's been nearly three weeks since my last post, mainly because of a ten-day trip to Scotland (which should feature in my next post) and processing the photos from that trip.
Last month, I invested around seven and a half hours at a known Tawny Owl location, without any results, so a tip-off from a good friend (thank you!) about another Tawny location just had to be investigated, using my car as a hide.
I hadn't been there long before I heard one of the birds (a male) calling and then a female also started to call. The calls of the male got closer and the Blackbirds started making a fuss, so I sat there in eager anticipation. My first sighting was when one of the birds flew overhead and up the road ahead of me and disappeared into a tree about 150 metres away.
I'd been there for a couple of hours before one of the birds flew into a tree about 50 metres from me, where it sat for a minute or so before flying towards me and over my head. Sadly, it was against white cloud, with a branch in the way. This is the best that I could manage.
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| Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) (female?) - Leicestershire |
After about an hour, both birds came from behind me and went straight into the same tree. Frustratingly, their position was awful, as you can see from the following.
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| Tawny Owls (Strix aluco) (male and female) - Leicestershire |
They both sat there for a couple of minutes and then flew back towards me, one passing over my head and the other flying into the back of a tree, only about 12 metres away. It popped up where I was not expecting it and I only managed to fire off two frames before it was off again. Sadly, my camera was still set for the birds in the 50 metre tree but, with a bit of work, I've managed to sort out these two frames, during which the bird moved its head a little. This is my favourite of the two.
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| Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) - Leicestershire |
Around 15 minutes later one of the birds was back in the 50 metre tree again, but this time a little better placed than previously.
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| Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) - Leicestershire |
It then flew up the road to a tree around 150 metres away and this was my last sighting.
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| Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) - Leicestershire |
I hung around for another half an hour, but there were no further sightings. It had been an extremely interesting and enjoyable four and a half hours, even if the photographic results are not up to scratch! My undying thanks to my informant for the tip-off!
Thank you for dropping by.
