Little owl

Wildlife photography is a time consuming game. I did 5 sessions of 4 hours in a hide to get this picture, but before that spent many hours walking around and watching the bird. Once I had it pinned down to one hedgerow where it spent most of its time I had to find one branch that it sat on the most often. I visited the site most days for 2 weeks, both early and late in the day. During that time I also watched hares, kingfishers and found a fox earth with well grown young, which might be good for photography next year.

Little owl two minutes before sunset

Once I had decided on where to put the hide I had to get permission from the land owner. For once that was an easy task as he appeared in the field one day by luck. It can take days to find out who owns a bit of land.

The photography was then easy. I did 2 early morning sessions, but gave those up as the birds feathers were damp and tatty from feeding on earthworms in the morning dew. Instead I got in the hide about 1700 hours and waited until 2100 hours. The bird would put in several appearances during that time and was totally unconcerned by the hide. Other than change the perch for another I was stuck as to what to do next. Flight shots are what I would really like, but unless I find a nest next spring that will be impossible. With a nest and a regular flight pass it will be a good flight subject. I should also get some dead mice and get it perched with one in its bill.

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