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.