Red Deer with Shorties
JANUARY 11, 2024
Stag Reflection
On Friday it was a day of two halves, early morning visit to Bushy Park to find some Red Deer, followed by a first visit to Staines Moor for Shorties, aka Short Eared Owls.
The early morning start was a little warmer than expected and overcast, ideally I wanted it to be freezing and sunny but it didn't materialise. What was nice though, I was the only photographer on the scene, the Deer were for my eyes only. After 30 minutes of searching I finally found them, with two Stags rounding up their harem, but with the Harem splitting I found myself sandwiched between two sets off Deer, but it worked to my advantage. Some bellow shots, some smelling shots, some walking through the river shots, perfect. After some brekkie from their local cafe, it was time to head over to Staines Moor and see how flooded it was.
After finally arriving and walking towards the Moor, it was obvious that the closer I got, the deeper the water became. Soon it was decision time, should I wade or should I go ....
I could see Shorties in the distance, the answer was easy, the adrenaline pumping and my tripod used as a ground tester I was off, one slow and careful step at a time. Half way across, the water started to go above the wellies, surprisingly not too cold, time to press on, owls were in the sky all over the place! I made it to dry ground eventually and it was time to set up and start firing!
It was a pleasure to spend a few hours watching these great birds from Scandanavia fly by, hovver and dive for their quarry. Watching them return to their favourite perch above the bushes was also interesting, they had their own little territories and sometimes would come into conflict with each other. One particular time I managed to capture this with a British Airways jumbo jet in the background.
Overall, I can't wait to return once the flood water levels have receded.