This morning, I joined two photographer friends, Pete and Ian, at a little owl site that Pete has been following for a while. He contacted me earlier in the week to tell me that the owlets were branching… starting to explore the tree, and that he had got some good shots. The owls are nesting in an old, rather gnarled oak tree, with lots of bare upper branches and random sprouting of leaves on lower branches. It is obviously pretty old and a classic little owl tree.
I joined the guys for a couple of hours this morning and it was only about 15 mins before the first owlet appeared, perching on a little outcrop from the main oak tree. These owls are SO well camouflaged that, from a distance, when they are still, they just merge in with the tree and are virtually invisible! This youngster would pop out for a few minutes, then disappear again around the back of the tree. We could hear the adults calling occasionally and caught a glimpse of one adult on a tree some way away. I only stayed a couple of hours, but Pet and Ian got some cracking shots of the adults coming in and feeding the young with a huge worm!
It is only the second time I have photographed little owls and I was quite pleased with the shots I got…. Here are a selection and the rest can be seen on my Flickr account HERE
