Sidmouth wildlife photographer Mark Taylor Hutchinson has turned his focus to owls lately. Here he describes the different species he has captured on camera.
There are five resident species of owl in the UK. The barn, tawny, long-eared and short-eared owls are native, whereas the little owl was introduced in the 1800s.
Contrary to perceptions, owls are not just active at night. The long-eared and tawny do tend to hunt entirely at night, but many hunt during daytime hours.
I have been lucky and photographed three of the above species, but it hasn’t been easy. To date the short and long-eared owls have eluded me. But I have just found a reliable spot for short-eared owls, which I am planning to try next.
Photographing owls at night requires some degree of set-up. This is achieved by knowing the pattern and haunt of the particular species and incorporating lighting to a regular perch site.
Weather conditions also help improve chances, as owls cannot hunt well during rain because their feathers are not waterproof. Barn owls are adversely affected by large amounts of rainfall as they detect prey primarily by sound, i.e. the sound of dry leaf litter, to find voles and mice.
I have been lucky with photographing tawny owls as they are generally reliable encounters. Again, I’ve been fortunate to photograph a family of little owls on a farm. The one I have had more difficulty with is the barn owl. It became a standing joke with a wildlife photography colleague. He would notify me of a good opportunity and then it would be a no-show. But if he went on his own he would always see them. It was becoming personal!
Then my luck changed, I managed to capture both tawny and barn owl shots on the same night. The tawny owl showed up at about 22:00 and hung around on some farm posts. It was not until 02:00am when I saw my first barn owl, which consisted of a ghostly flypast, but no landing. At 03:10 she reappeared and landed on a tree nearby, but then flew away immediately. I had no time to press the shutter. Then at 03:45 the white apparition reappeared and sat in the tree surveying all around. As she preened herself I reeled off some shots. Magic!
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