Those of you who have followed this group for several years will remember the Owls I used to watch through the summer. After watching them raise numerous families in consecutive years it all came to a sad end when the tree in which they built their home blew down in a late summer storm.

North York Moors Barn Owl

North York Moors Barn Owl

Although I knew of a great many other owls to watch, they all lived in boxes which didn’t hold the same magic as an owl living in a tree.

Earlier this year I was invited to a friends farm Nr Staithes to see an owl they felt might be nesting in a tree on the farm.

I initially visited a few weeks ago now. The tree looked perfect but on that occasion there was no sign of the owls. I thought on that occasion it might be too windy for them to be out flying so I had a good look around and worked out a hiding place from where I could photograph any activity without causing any disruption if I was lucky enough to see any owls

After a crappy few days, worrying about the future, I made a trip back to the farm and set up the camera in the Gorse bushes facing the old tree.

I had to sit on my bag as a mixture of gorse and thistles made it very uncomfortable.

It wasn’t long before I saw an owl approaching across the adjacent moorland. It was clearly visible the owl was carrying a small animal, perhaps a vole or a shrew. The Owl came straight past me and into the hole in the tree. Loud hissing ensued, confirming the owl had a young family in the tree which it was feeding.

Counting in my head it was a full ten seconds before the owl reappeared. He/she composed him/herself, a quick clean of the beak, a scratch of his face and off he went to hunt again.

This was great news, I hadnt disturbed the owl in any way. The owl had no idea I was there. In the next hour I watched a pair of owls returning to the tree with food every five to ten minutes, one owl very evidently different in size and colour to the other confirming it was a pair. Neither of them detected my presence and so were able to come and go completely naturally.

The light was poor with lots of cloud cover making it dull. Darkness came on fast and I had to shoot some images at high iso with a slow shutter speed of 1/60th of a second.

The pictures aren’t the best, and I have many better ones, but Im sure If I return on another day with the sun in the sky I am confident of some better photographs.

North York Moors Barn Owl

North York Moors Barn Owl

North York Moors Barn Owl

North York Moors Barn Owl

North York Moors Barn Owl

North York Moors Barn Owl