Short Eared Owls
On Tuesday i decided to head over to Pilling on the Fylde Coast to try and track down the 3 SEOs that had been reported to have taken up winter residency over there. With the weather looking slightly grim i trusted the weather forcast and set off hoping the wintery showers would move over to leave a bright afternoon as predicted. I called in to the UCLAN campus on the way over to locate the Waxwings that are around at the moment, no photos possible due to the birds being up high and the weather being appauling. I carried on up the A6 and reached the site at around 1pm, i sat myself into a ditch, covered myself and the camera with a bag hide and sat and and waited for 30mins and then, in the distance, i noticed 3 birds playing high over a field, a quick check thru the bins revealed 3 Short Eared Owls .... wow! after a short time playing that got down to some serious hunting ...... with one of the birds choosing the field right in front of me, my 500mm was too close sometimes and i will experiment with shorter lenses in the near future
After a brief session of about 20mins the showers returned and the Owls took to the shelter of a hedge .... and i headed home, happy with my first outing photographing this wonderful bird.
All the images were taken using the following:
Nikon D2xs, Sigma 500mm Lens, Manfrotto Tripod with Sidekick, Bag Hide,
Camera Settings: ISO 640, AF-C, RAW, 1/100th - 1/250th all at F.5.6
Thanks
Andy
