The Night Shift
Over more than fifty years I have met many wildlife photographers but have not met one who has rose to the ultimate challenge of spending a full night in a hide filming Owls (Tawny,Little, Barn or Long Eared). Entering a hide in the evening at 9pm and not leaving it until 5am the following morning is not to be taken too lightly. It requires no sleep and 8 hours of total concentration to perhaps take only a couple of photos.Thirty years ago I spent nights on all four of the above Owl species and this weeks blog photo was taken at 2am as the male Long Eared Owl arrived at the nest with his catch, only to find that the female was still feeding the young on his previous catch! These nights were the most exciting I have ever had in wildlife photography but, sadly, all my photos were on colour negatives , like this week’s blog photo of the nest. The others were not suitable to use for Gallery photos. So this weeks Gallery is of my favourite digital flight photos of a male Long Eared Owl taken in the last few years.
gallery photos http://www.facebook.com/gordonyateswildlife
Herons are usually the first local birds to start nest-building and this year was no different.In glorious sunshine early this week I paid a quick visit to Queens Park in Heywood and had a lot of action from a pair that had only just started to build their nest. The male was breaking branches off nearby trees and passing them to the female who placed them into the base of the nest. Conditions were perfect and I was able to obtain some good images in the short time that I was there.gallery photos see link below http://www.facebook.com/gordonyateswildlife
During the frosty and snowy weather of last week I had a nice surprise. I was checking for Jack Snipe along a local stream and disturbed a wading bird with a brilliant white rump. I knew immediately that this was the ultimate winter visitor and only the second that I had seen locally in more than 50years – it was a Green Sandpiper. It breeds in the forests of Lapland and is a very wary subject.
Generally this winter has been very poor for Winter visitors with one exception – Jack Snipe. I have several sites where I go to in the hope of finding a Jack Snipe and since the first one I found on the 9th October I have seen 152!! Sadly every one of those found has flown off underfoot and I have obtained no photographs. All that changed this week when I found Jack Snipe number 153. It froze and I obtained dreamed of photos of a Jack Snipe that still thought it was camouflaged – even in the snow!!