I've been spending quite a bit of time recently down on the marshes in the lower Waveney valley watching and photographing Barn Owls with varying success but yesterday evening all those hours paid off with my best experience yet with these amazing birds. It all started off quietly enough with an owl appearing as the sun lowered down in the early evening sky and the gentle breeze almost disappeared altogether. The owl hunted over the scrape and surrounding fields at SWT Carlton marshes and I positioned myself by a gate to observe and hope that it would fly within camera range. After a while the Barn owl dropped into the long grass but emerged a few seconds later without any prey and flew directly to my left and perched on a fence post no more than 25 yards away from me.
Moving very slowly I turned round and got behind the camera and took a few shots fully expecting the owl to fly off as soon as the shutter was pressed but to my amazement it turned, looked directly at me as I held my breath and then carried on surveying the field. I took some more shots and the owl moved along the fence post a bit before taking off into the and diving down some 50 yards away. A minute or so so elapsed and then the bird flew up with a vole in its talons and returned to the same perch again.
Not believing my luck I was now furiously snapping away with the camera without the owl taking much notice although it could easily hear the shutter clicking away. It began to swallow the vole and made several attempts to gulp it down but appeared to struggle with the last bit and after a minute or so of trying the vole was regurgitated before somebody walking along the footpath disturbed the owl and it flew off to a nearby tree to consume its meal in peace. By far and away my best encounter with a Barn owl giving me some fantastic photographs to remember it with.
