THERE'S ALWAYS SOMETHING WAITING TO GO WRONG!!!!!!

I decided last night {25th Aug} after we had had such an oppressively hot day  to put the cameras on in the Barn Owl box just to check on how the birds had dealt with the heat.

As I approached the poles that the box is mounted on to connect the battery up, something white caught my eye on the floor, we had an Owlet having fallen from the box, as to how it had done this I'm not sure as it would have had to climb out the box and then cross the front timber platform area and fall over the edge.

After a quick check nothing appeared broken {luckily} it could walk around fine and flap its wings, after falling 3.6 metres this was amazing, so it was a case of contacting someone to help return the youngster to the box, I managed to contact Christine from the Charnwood Ringing Group, who came over to give the bird a check over and return it to the box.

Whilst returning the youngster she could hear the adult female hissing very loudly and also found one of the smaller young in the doorway, they had obviously come to the door to try and get some cooler air.

Avery BIG thank you to Christine for her help in our hour of need. 

Young Owlet on the floor not appearing bothered by me. 

Here having moved into the longer grass so not so much visible, Christine thinks the longer grass under the box broke the youngsters fall. 

Awful image, i'm sorry but two larger young top left, three smaller in the centre and one larger to the right. 

Adult Male leaving the large box.

All the following images are taken at ISO 102,400 but I'm starting to get slightly better results. 

Here showing interest in some bats that join us every evening. 

DOUGLAS C 47 DAKOTA.

We had a Country Fair in a nearby village and one of the attractions was a fly past by a Dakota, as it happened after the show it flew straight over our land and I just managed to get the camera  in time to get some images. 

Battle of Britain Flight Douglas c 47 Dakota ZA947.

This marvellous old aircraft is maintained by the Royal Air force  and looked absolutely magnificent. It is now painted to represent FZ692 of 233 squadron.

Here you can see the Captain and first officer  and a crew member having a look out of the window behind them.


Thank you for your visit, I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I did in the getting of the images .

A much shorter post than usual due to the Owlet.

AN UPDATE ON OUR BARN OWLS AND AN OSPREY DUTY.

I am spending most evenings out in my hide monitoring the boxes to see what is happening and that the male is providing sufficient  food for the brood, he at the moment appears to be a very efficient hunter and returns on a regular basis and deposits the spoils of his efforts in the box with the young and female.

I also have the cameras on in the box every two days to try to keep up to date with the hatching, having had the camera on this morning {15th August}. I could only see one egg still to hatch but as to how many Owlets we have, I'm not sure at all. The last time I had an accurate count we had five hatched but this time the female would not get out of the way sufficiently for me to see, she will have to try harder for me. 

I am finding the male is actually coming out of the box earlier but only because the nights are getting darker earlier.

Images taken from the cameras in the small box.

Firstly apologies for the poor quality of the images, we are sill getting a considerable amount of interference but better to see something. 

Awful image but five Owlets are in this shot. what a rate of growth. I was watching whilst the female was feeding the young and the size of the pieces they were swallowing was astounding, comparing them to the Osprey and the female, she was feeding very small bits of fish at this size.

Male Barn Owl leaving the box.

All these images are taken at ISO 102,400 and as the days went by I increased the amount of negative EV up to - 2 for the last images, for my next attempt if it ever stops raining I am going to try -3.
Other than the last two images, all the images were taken on different nights.

ANOTHER OSPREY DUTY, 8th AUGUST.

Its getting to that time of year where the juvenile Ospreys could leave at any time, sad but also satisfying in the fact the adults have managed to rear all four of the young.

I was an duty with a new lady, Julie who was extremely efficient and very knowledgeable on the birds so we had a really good but very busy afternoon with visitors arriving continuously.

The birds were more active than the last duty when it was so hot but even so we did not have much flying about, but the visitors appeared happy enough just to see the birds.  

Adult Female, Waderscrape Hide.

She had been sitting in the poplars farther along the bay, opposite the new Shallow Water hides.

Juveniles in Poplar Tree.

This pair sat in the tree most of the afternoon with 054 {F} to the left and 056 {M} to the right.

Adult Female lands on the nest with 057.

057 had been on the nest for a while, it makes so easy with the large screen in the hide to read the ring numbers.

She then flew onto the camera post leaving 057 picking up the scraps of fish.

Then we had the arrival of two intruder Ospreys, this was on the edge of Manton Bay where it adjoins Heron Bay, a distance of some 580 metres.

33 was immediately into the air from his perch at the other end of the bay and is here bringing up the rear.

The intruders, an adult in the top bird and a juvenile below.

Juvenile intruder on its own.

Juvenile with 33/11 in attendance above.

33 then went into a dive at the youngster but pulled up before hitting the bird.

This was enough for the juvenile who then departed the area and headed for its home nest.

You can just read the ring number 050, not bad for the distance the bird was away from me.

056 to the right and 054 still on the fallen tree, but having changed branches watching 33 remove the intruders.

054 then decides to go and help but also tell 33 its time to catch a fish.
055 was perched in the back of the poplar tree and was impossible to get an image from.

Newly hatched Moorhen, Waderscrape Hide.

This is one of a pair of young that were about in the water to the front of the hide, but either one or the other was always hiding in the reeds.

Second young bird, very late but hopefully will be raised OK by the adults.

Thank you for your visit, I hope you have enjoyed as much as I did in the getting of the images.

Still getting used to the camera.

A PRACTICE WITH THE NEW CAMERA. 
IT'S GOING TO TAKE SOME TIME!!!!!


BARN OWL UPDATE.

I am out in my hide most evenings monitoring the birds and keeping a log of developments, we have to do this to keep a Schedule 1 licence from the BTO plus I enjoy the challenge of trying to get some images of the Male as he leaves the large box.

I am finding the new camera astounding in its reproduction in particular with distance shots, but I have more work to do with the using of high ISO and of course all the buttons are in different places so whilst working in the dark in the hide I am fumbling around, where is the ISO button etc.?? 

I have included some images from the Owls but as you can see I have got to get used to the camera, not so bad in day light but in the dark still struggling I'm afraid.

We had the cameras on in the small box yesterday and the first Owlet has hatched so I'm hoping that as we get more young hopefully the male will come out earlier to get more food and make my life considerably easier.

Having had the cameras on again this morning {7th of August} we are up to two Owlets hatched so lets  hope we carry on like this.

Male Barn Owl, leaving the large box.

All these images are taken in almost dark conditions with an ISO between 79,600 and 102,400 hence the poor quality which I hope to improve with practice. This is something I have never had the ability to try previously.

If he would come out of the box half an hour earlier it would really help. 

 Male arriving back at the smaller box with food for the female,  amazed I managed to get an image at all, it was a really dark evening.

Awful quality I'm afraid but we had a considerable amount of interference, but you can make out the 5 remaining eggs with the adult female to the right and the two fluffy areas to the top of the eggs are the Owlets.

A VISIT TO EYEBROOK.

I decided to have a visit to Eyebrook Reservoir for a practice with the camera, which turned out a  successful visit.  

Spitfire DBE
.
I had not been at the Reservoir long when I heard a familiar  sound, a Spitfire. This was flying by at a reasonable altitude obviously on route somewhere.

Still trying to find out as to why the aircraft is called  "Elizabeth".??

 This Spitfire was given the call sign DBE as recognition to Lucy, Lady Houston DBE, the DBE standing for Dame of the Commonwealth and the British Empire. She was awarded this for her pioneering work with the RAF and in particular her investment of £100,000.00 in 1931 to Supermarine in the development of the Supermarine S6 that eventually won the Schneider Trophy in 1931. Winston Churchill said she was "implacable in her hatred, and insatiable in her kindness".

Supermarine S6 that won the Trophy.

This aircraft with the floats removed then became the Spitfire . Lady Lucy became known as the mother of the Spitfire.

 Common Tern.

These were purely practice shots to see the definition the camera would give over a reasonable distance, these birds were in the region of 140 to 150 metres away.

Banded Demoiselle, Bridge over the Eye Brook.

I had a quick visit to the area where the Otters had been seen and saw this Demoiselle land on a tree downs stream, I had to adjust the setting of the lens to 10 metre to infinity so it was in excess of 10 metres away from me, I class  this as not bad for the distance.


Thank you for your visit, I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I did in the getting of the images even if I am still having to learn a considerable amount about this camera.

Sorry if the blogg appears a bit rushed but I have had my wife in hospital earlier in the week.