Short-eared Owl, Cornwall 11th January 2024.

 An example of the Short-eared Owl's ability to alter the size of its pupils to suit the light. The eye in the sun has the pupil contracted whereas the one on the shadow side is still dilated. Nature has it sorted!

Young Peregrine Falcons take to the wing. North Cornwall coast 7th July 2020.

These Peregrine falcons have finally fledged and can be seen doing their aerobatic displays over the Cornish cliffs.

Strong winds have seen them perfecting their flying skills as they swoop & soar on the updraughts.
At times the gales have been so strong that they've taken shelter under the ledges until a grumpy raven or a frumpy fulmar moves them on.

We're not sure if they've fledged 2 or 3 youngsters although we are thinking more towards the 2 birds as they're often seen together and are looking like a male & a female.

More hunting Barn Owls locally. 18th May 2020.

The male owl was hunting when I arrived at 7:20 pm this evening.

Unbelievably he caught 3 voles in 20 minutes & took them to the nest. Sadly for me each was caught in a meadow where I wasn't set up with my camera!!!

It was fantastic evening light but as soon as it started to drop he then caught 2 voles right in front of me. Great to watch and he was ages on the ground dispatching the creature before taking off with the rodent in his beak before transferring it to his talons to fly the approx 300 metres back to the nest.

Barn Owls in North Cornwall 17th May 2020

I've watched this male Barn Owl hunting locally for several evenings and think I'm beginning to see a pattern as to where he hunts & the route he takes back to the nest where he has a female & 6 owlets that cover a vast size difference. 4 are really well grown now but 2 are still minute and they were all hatched within 1-2 days of each other.

Barn Owl near Wadebridge. 23rd July 2019

A few images of the male bird carrying a field vole to the nest which is in an old cattle shed in the corner of some rough meadows.

Ideal Owl habitat.

A distant White-tailed Eagle. Tiszaalpar, Hungary. 11th July 2019.

I watched this White-tailed Eagle fly across the marshes and then circle before it crashed down on a fish in the shallows beside the reeds.

It stayed there a few moments before rising out of the water and carrying a fish off towards the far end of the lake.

Too far away for good photos but still a memorable event to watch!

Predators of the Cornish coast. 3rd July 2019

Juvenile Peregrine

A couple of hours on the North Cornish cliffs and saw four of the main predators all in the air within minutes of each other. The Peregrine did give chase to the Kestrel, the Raven was part of a family of 4 juveniles & 2 adults and the Sparrowhawk was a complete surprise!

Kestrel

Raven

Sparrowhawk

 

Sparrowhawk

Juvenile Peregrine

Juvenile Peregrine

Juvenile Peregrine

Peregrine

Short-eared Owls re-visited, North Cornwall coast. 27th Feb 2019.

Another fantastic afternoon photographing Short-eared Owls on the coast in the sunshine.

This time last week we thought they'd moved on North but were relocated back on the same headland a few days later.

Here are a few photos that I enjoyed taking!

Barn Owl flying in the sunshine this afternoon. 26th Feb 2019.

This Barn Owl has been flying around in the daytime for several weeks giving local people spectacular views.

Looking at some of the photos I took today it looks as if it has a problem with it's left eye, there's a pink/red stain under it and it looks partly closed.

Maybe this is why it's needing to hunt more often if it's having trouble catching prey or perhaps it just finds prey easier in the daylight.

Short eared Owls... Round 3. 9th Dec 2018.

Very windy and only shots were of one of the Owls sheltering from the gales!!