Fledged Barn Owls

This weeks photo is of two recently fledged Barn Owls about to take their first evening flight. It is only a record shot taken from the car more than 400 yards away and these two were part of a brood of six that fledged from a barn just a few yards away. The significance of the photo is that with these Barn Owls I have, in the last two months, now photographed all five species of Pennine Owls something I have never done in one season in forty seven years before.
Once young Barn Owls can fly they are still fed by the male for up to six weeks, usually on top of the dry-stone walls that surround the barn. Three years ago I spent many weeks trying to capture the illusive food-pass from the male to the young. On many nights the young, the  hide and flash were in the wrong place but on other nights it all came good and this weeks gallery shows some of the more successful shots. The main problem is that it is not possible to re-focus once it has gone dark and you are only left with silhouettes in your view finder. The male Owl is the one with the dirty face! Click here