Happy Imbolc

Subjects to seek out this month: Barn Owls

Barn owls can often be seen hunting in daylight during the shorter winter days. This is for a few reasons:
Rodents make up around 90% of a barn owl’s diet and during cold weather field voles change their behaviour to come out when warmer rather than their usual time of overnight.
Starvation is a big problem for barn owls. They are poorly insulated and need to eat extra to keep warm
Lacking proper waterproofing they rarely hunt during heavy rain; likewise snow causes huge problems by obscuring the voles. Northumbrian owls are often recorded moving towards the coast to find clear ground. As the name suggests these owls would historically have hunted indoors making the most of the high populations of rodents that went with traditional ways of storing grain- a huge boost during cold weather.
During cold weather they are more likely to perch in order to conserve heat and energy, giving you a great chance for a portrait in soft golden hour light.

They can be creatures of habit so if you are lucky enough to see one – looking in the same place at that time on the following days can often be successful.
To photograph them hunting you will benefit from a long lens and a high ISO, you will need a fast shutter speed. Some noise on your image is preferable to any movement so prioritise achieving a shutter speed of 1/400 upwards, ideally if the bird is in flight you’d go over 1/1000 and you may need to pan the camera to follow their path

Some sights are worth braving the cold for

Although each was sub zero there have been many nights during January that have been perfect for stargazing and astrophotography. One allowed us enough notice to send an email that morning and gather a (admittedly very small) group together. Most importantly knowledge was imparted and fun was had. My thanks to Simon Etheridge for sharing his expertise and for the photo of the Milky Way.