Norfolk Broads - An Owl's Heaven

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Recently I have been trying to photograph Barn Owls. A month ago, I was told of a local location where one had been spotted daily. After spending a week and a half, most mornings and evenings, the Owl never turned up. It still hasn't been spotted and it has been 3 weeks now, so I feel something might have happened to it or hopefully it had just relocated.

During a visit to a wildlife reserve I met Norman Tottle, who is a Norfolk-based photographer who specialises in the landscape and wildlife of the Norfolk Broads. He told me to check out a number of different areas where he regularly finds Barn Owls.

So for the past few days I have been traveling to the Broads to photograph the Owls, early morning and evening. I knew the Norfolk Broads was well known for its wildlife, but didn't realise how bio-diverse it is. Currently, at one location you can spot daily: a Barn Owl, Short Eared Owl, Little Owls, Cranes, Marsh Harrier, Kestrel, Cettis Warblers, Great Crested Grebes, Herons and the elusive pigeon. Also Otters are sighted occasionally, so I am always on the lookout.

I felt as if I had won the lottery finally getting to see the owls and all the other species. For the last few days though, I have just been concentrating on the Barn Owl and Short Eared Owl. Here are a few of my pictures so far:

Barn Owl in flight - Norfolk

Barn Owl hovering - Norfolk

Short Eared Owl watching me - Norfolk

Random Heron - Norfolk

Barn Owl flying over the reeds - Norfolk

Barn Owl roaming - Norfolk

Short Eared Owl Flying low - Norfolk

Tips:

• Wear camouflage if you want a closer view.
• Speak to locals, they can guide you to the best areas.
• Best time to see Owls, is after a few days of rain, as they are out during the day to find food. They can't hunt very well in the rain, so they are normally hungry.

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RSPB Minsmere

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After signing up to be a member of the RSPB, I decided to go to one of their well known reserves that I hadn't been to yet, Minsmere. I wanted to spend most of the day there, so I set off at 5am because it takes a hour and 10 from mine.

I decided to spend the whole day in one hide, as I am yet to do this. This meant that I didn't see much of the reserve but allowed me to document and record the same area all day. It ended up being a 10 hour shoot with no breaks and in 1 hide. This was a test of my patience as there were long periods with no activity.

View from the hide, 2 deer in the water and 1 on the path.

The key species I wanted to photograph were Bittern and Otters but both are elusive species.

I didn't see any otters but did end up seeing 4 bitterns. 2 flew straight past the hide and another one walked down a path next to the hide for about a minute, but was quiet a distance away from me. It wasn't until 3:30pm, 9 hours into my shoot that one flew into the reed beds but the lighting wasn't great for photography.

Other species I photographed and documented were:

4 Bitterns, 4 Marsh Harriers collecting reeds for nest material, 4 Red Deer, 2 Water Rail, 2 Cetti's Warblers, a Kingfisher, 2 Monkjack's, Mating Greylag Geese, Mating Coots, Reed Bunting, Squirrel and the rare Blue Tit.

So it wasn't a bad day really and I met some nice people as well. One being Norman Tottle who gave me a few locations and local knowledge around the area, which was good.

Here are a few of the images from the day.

Bittern flying over the water.

Water Rail flying into the reeds.

Marsh Harrier collecting reeds for its nest.

Red deer in the reeds.

Bittern flying over the reeds.

Cetti's Warbler displaying for mate.

Cetti's Warbler hiding in the reeds.

Bittern wading through the water.

Marsh Harrier soaring.

Red deer.

Red deer in the water.

Red Deer grazing.

During the day, 4 Red deer came into the water to cool down. It was a great experience even though it annoyed some twitchers who stormed off in angry. They then came and slept in front of the hide for the next hour. They were too close to photograph 90% of the time, but great to watch.

Tips:

• Patience pays off.
• Wear suncream in hides (My hands got burnt)
• Speak to people and you will pick up local knowledge and tips.

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Thanks for looking

Cley Wildlife Reserve In Norfolk

Last weekend I spent a day at Cley Marshes which is located on the North Norfolk coast. The area consists of a number of different habitats including pools, reed beds, beaches and grazing fields. This makes an ideal place to find a variety of different bird species.

It is a great location for twitchers with a variety of unusual birds stopping off for a rest during their winter migration. Such reserves are not always best for photographers as they are normally focused towards twitchers, which can be very frustrating when you can see the species, but can't get close enough to get a decent photograph.  This isn't the case here, the hides get you close to the wildlife and there are areas where you can wander around and get closer to the wildlife which I prefer.

Here are a few images from the day that were taken whilst walking around the reserve.

Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus) hunting over the reeds

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) drying its wings

Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) foraging for food.

I prefer the free-roaming approach rather than being confined to the hides, because it allows you to get different angles and compose your photos better, so I spent the majority of the time doing this. But I did get a few shots from the hides, which are below:

Black-Tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) landing

Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) on the grazing field

It was a fairly dull day and the images are not as vibrant and as colourful as I would have liked, but nonetheless it was a good experience and I managed to get a few decent shots out of it. However, for the first time ever, I forgot to check my shooting format and later realised I had been shooting on JPEG for the majority of the shoot which is extremely annoying but has taught me a lesson for the future. SO ALWAYS DO YOUR CAMERA CHECKS!!!!

How Hill

The next day I had a short visit to How Hill which is part of the Norfolk Broads. There wasn't a great deal of wildlife around but I did get to see a barn owl in the early morning which was a memorable experience even though I couldn't manage to get close enough for a decent shot. Having said this there were a few shots I took that morning of other birds which have turned out OK.

Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) taking off

Whooper Swans (Cygnus cygnus) with their cygnets

Tips:

• Check your camera setting before every shoot!!
• Research the reserves you will be visiting before the shoot day to establish whether they are created primarily for twitchers, or for photographers as well
• Research recent sightings, so you can look out for the rarer species

Hope you all have a great Christmas and hopefully we will get a bit of snow soon, so I can create a more wintery post next time.

Camera used: Nikon D90
Lens used: 300mm F2.8 with a X2 Converter