A MORE PRODUCTIVE VISIT TO EYEBROOK.

I decided to have another try at Eyebrook Reservoir hoping for the Osprey to show and luckily for me 03/09 arrived not long after arriving and nearly finishing my lunch, so sandwich on the passenger seat and out the car and hand holding this hefty camera and lens, they tell me its good exercise, but I soon finished up resting the lens on top of the car door, much easier, after this very pleasing interruption  I finished my lunch, later in the afternoon  I saw a friend who I have been seeing at the reservoir for a long time who told me he had seen 03/09 and three other Osprey in 03/09's favourite tree on the Wednesday afternoon, I was glad to see the one bird however I kept a good watch on the tree with my bins for the rest of my visit.

Male Osprey 03/09.

Unfortunately he never came very close, I would estimate he was a good 500 metres away for these images. 

Same image as above but not so cropped to show second Osprey above him.

He had a bit of a drift about before the two birds were heading towards the Dam and out of sight.

Black Headed Gull.


Out Towards the Tern Raft, the only one I bothered to get an image from.

Being so pale  this bird was really difficult to miss.

Pale Phase  Common Buzzard.


This bird then appeared and was initially being followed by a Red Kite, but by the time I had taken a few images the Kite had disappeared. This is the palest bird I have ever seen, had to check with a friend As to what it was.

Then it was gone over some trees and out of view.

MORE ON THE BARN OWLS.

Whenever the weather is suitable, {which it is most certainly not this evening, hence the work on a new post} I have been out with these beautiful birds attempting to get a better idea  as to what they are doing, when out in the hide I tend to concentrate on the large box , this being where all three birds roost, but on Wednesday the 26th evening, I was as normal watching the large box when late on, the resident male came out of the small box. Has the Interloper sent him packing? or has he moved himself out. I will have to put on the cameras in both boxes, at the same time watching the box as the cameras for some reason disturb the Males but not the Female.

I have eventually managed some slightly better images of the Interloper leaving the large box. I find myself complaining its dark when he appears, but as a friend commented, its an Owl, they come out when its dark, I suppose  I should be grateful the Resident Male comes out that bit earlier.
In these awful times these birds have been a wonderful distraction and have got me outside safely on our own land wel away from people.

Resident Male.
He changed his favourite post for a short time  and sat on the other side of the box.

First look out of the evening.

And a casual stroll across the front of the box, a far more relaxed bird than the Interloper. 

And then up onto his favourite post. 

A quick tidy up.

A quick check to see if I'm still about in the hide.

Another evening and the first sighting. 

And again up onto his favourite post, a creature of habit. 

I'm not sure as to the attraction of this post, perhaps when its dark he finds its a good hunting position. 

Then down onto the front of the box and a short flight.

Then up onto the post on the other side of the box.

Then back down onto the front of the box.

Then he was away hunting and back in under five minutes with a mouse. 

 I have put this image in this position so you can see the difference with the bird below.

SOME IMAGES OF THE INTERLOPER AT LAST.

 The images below  were taken over three nights with the camera objecting by a very slow speed indication and great difficulty in focusing, as good as your kit is ,to be fair it's not designed to work in the dark, low light yes, dark , no but that's the nature  of he bird I am working with, so please be understanding with the poor image quality.

You will notice the Interloper has different shaped eyes to the Resident bird, as above, and also has not got the eye staining either.

Interloper Male.

Not so heavily cropped but the different  shape to the eyes and lack of staining evident.

One of these nights he will appear earlier . 

The lack of staining really evident in this image.




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

WHATS BEEN HAPPENING WITH THE BARN OWLS SINCE MY LAST POST.

I have been out most evenings on monitoring duties, the last two rain stopped play unfortunately. Most evenings I have seen both Male birds but nothing of the Female for the last few days, the resident Male however always returns with a mouse in quick time on his first hunting trip which suggests she is still in the box.

I have found it extremely difficult in the getting of an image of the interloper, it appears which ever box I decide to watch after  the resident leaves after his first outing, the interloper leaves the other, very frustrating, but eventually I have caught him twice whilst leaving the large box, the best part of an hour after the resident bird leaves.

This makes the getting of a decent image very difficult with the evenings getting that much darker earlier, however with the camera being able to shoot up to ISO 125600 this is a help but not always the answer, I have had images with a red and blue hue so they have to be dumped, I also find the lens sometimes struggles in auto focus so its a case of pressing the remote button and wait for the camera to take an image as the lens goes in and out and hopoe to get an image in focus when the two operations coincide, which eventually happens. 
I have also contacted the Barn Owl Trust to get another opinion on our goings on, the office is closed at the moment due to Covid, it is impacting everything, the sooner we get a vaccine the better.

 

Resident Male Leaving the large Box.

This image from the 9 th of August  at 20.51 hrs  at ISO 25600.

This bird tends to come out and have a look about to check the coast is clear before leaving , where as the Interloper comes out of the entrance  like a missile and  straight away, but not always luckily.

The resident bird then had a walk across the platform before flying onto his favourite post. This being his second trip out from the box, 21.08 hrs ISO 51200.

He has sat here on several evenings for up to 30 minutes watching the world go by.

He occasionally  sees something moving and gets transfixed.

A sudden gust blows a few feathers.

Something definitely got his attention but he remained in place for a few minutes more before going hunting.

The next evening the 10th at 20.55 hrs. ISO 25600.

A quick shake and up onto the post again.  

II'm sure he can see me in the hide but tolerates the intrusion into his space.

Resident male again leaving the large box,12th of August 21.20 hrs ISO 512000.
 

Again another quick shake and he then flies down onto one of my compost bins.

Unfortunately he landed behind the gate. 

But then he bobbed up and down a few times and I caught him on the way up. 

Interloper makle leaving the large box.

Luckily a slower departure than normal, 21.35 hrs ISO 125600. 14th of August. He does not appear to have the eye staining  of the resident male.

Again leaving the large box 15th of August 21.42 hrs, ISO 125600.

Same evening as above using the continuous shooting routine .

A VERY SLOW VISIT AT EYEBROOK RESERVOIR.

I decided to have a visit to Eyebrook in  the hope of seeing the Osprey, but unfortunately I saw nothing of the birds. Also the Common Terns had headed South and it was noticeably  quieter without them calling, I was told that over forty young were ringed which from one raft was brilliant, the only sightings were a few Black Headed gulls and some  Lapwings.

I also had a quick visit to see if any Red Kites were about at the village where the gent feeds them but obviously he still could not get his supplies and no birds.
The Manton Bay Ospreys, the young male 083 has got underway on his first migration in the last few days so good luck to him.

Black Headed Gull, near the Tern Raft.
How quick these birds loose the black head at this time of the year. 

A quick dribble of the feet in the water. 

Lapwings, again near the Tern Raft.

Several groups flew by in the afternoon. 

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