Thursday, February 28, 2013

Aust Warth : Return Visit

I fancied a morning out last Sunday and a return visit to Aust Warth to get some more and hopefully better shots of the day flying Barn Owl was too much of a temptation !
Having dipped on the owl on his one  previous visit fellow "togger" Richard Smith joined me and even did the honour of driving with us arriving at the warth at about 9.00am.
The Barn Owl had been hunting since about 7.00am and we got straight onto the bird as it quartered the rough ground alongside the road.
The only disappointing aspect was the grey overcast sky resulting in absolutely terrible light with us both having to shoot at higher than wanted ISOs to achieve a reasonable shutter speed.
We enjoyed a great hour and a half before the owl disappeared to roost and then went to look for the two Twite that had been around for a couple of weeks.
Other birders informed us that the birds were still around and we soon found them high in trees at the end of the warth as they dashed back and fore the reedbed.
They were quite flighty and we just couldn't get quite close enough to get some really good shots but did manage a few "record" photos,sorry mean't images.
We called it a day at 2.00pm and headed for home to settle down in front of the television where I was joined by close friend Neil who popped up to watch Swansea hammer Bradford with me in the League Cup Final,a great morning followed by an equally great afternoon.

4 comments:

J said...

Cracking shots, Jeff. Are these taken using a car as a hide, or were you standing out in the open? I ask because I might be in Severn Beach soon, and would be walking along to the Warth from there.

Jeff said...

Hi Jeremy,
Not sure if you've been there before but the road runs alongside the rough ground where the Barn and SE Owls hunt,and most people park against the post and wire fence at the edge of the road. You can shoot from the car but most people prefer to stand at the fenceline,a tripod is a good idea especially with a Gimbal head as you can be stood around waiting for the owls to appear.
Both the Barn and SE Owls can fly very close to the fence and the Barn Owl perches on the fence and if you are in the right place at the right time you could get some amazing shots.
I'm waiting for a well lit day to make another visit as although I've been lucky on two out of three previous visits the light has been awful.
Good luck if you go and I'll keep checking your website for the photos.

MITCH said...

Love the top one in particular Jeff,fabulous!!!!!!!

Costume Lady said...

Love these photos!