Tuesday 28 January 2020

Before the Light Fails

There weren't as many bright afternoons this weekend as last, but I still tried out last week's productive field.  On Monday afternoon it was a lot quieter than the week before with the field only being covered by two Kestrels for quite a while.  Eventually, a ringtail Hen Harrier spent less than 10 minutes quartering the whole field before heading off to the the west.  I was just about to give up when a Barn Owl appeared.  It came quite close to the car, and even though the light was pretty poor it was possible to take a couple of acceptable photos.
Barn Owl 
 ditto 
 ditto 
 ditto
 ditto
 Hen Harrier
 ditto
 ditto
 ditto
 ditto 
 ditto
 ditto
 ditto
After Tuesday's session I had a look round the cemetery to see if the Buzzard had returned.  A male Kestrel was in the mature Oak tree, but I couldn't see the Buzzard.  As I drove round the church I noticed a very dark bird on the grass.  it almost looked like a Pheasant at first, but through the gloom it turned out to be a raptor, but not an European one.  It was a Harris Hawk.  I started taking photos and then its handler appeared, and it moved to the carcase of a Black Poplar and sat against the fence.  Not something I ever expected to see... 
Harris Hawk
ditto

No comments: