Bourne, Lincs 5-6 August

Back at the start of August, we had a great 20hr session in the luxurious Pool Hide at Wildlife Photography Hides near Bourne, Lincs. At night, the targets were Otter, Tawny Owl and Grey Heron, which all appeared and showed well. The day was much quieter with the useful activity confined to the very early morning.

It has taken me until now to sort out my photos, although there are still some more that look worthwhile to process!

To see a gallery of more of my photos from this session, go to this page on my website.

Here is a taster to whet your appetites. For each, you can click on the caption to see a larger image. 

The Otters (up to 3) were definitely the stars of the show and the ones we most wanted, and they didn't disappoint, showing several times through the night:

Otter (c) Stephen Burch

Otter (c) Stephen Burch

Over at the perches, the attraction was the Tawny Owls that showed much more briefly from time to time, mainly shortly after dusk and then much later just before dawn.

Tawny Owl (c) Stephen Burch

When the Otters weren't present, there was a Grey Heron for entertainment. The still conditions gave some great opportunities for reflection shots, such as this one:

Grey Heron (c) Stephen Burch

When the dawn arrived, and the night visitors had melted away, the resident Kingfishers appeared. I managed to catch them mating very briefly:

Kingfishers mating (c) Stephen Burch

The male turned out to be very tatty, but the female, that showed only early morning, was in better nick. During the day she was apparently incubating her third brood!

Female Kingfisher (c) Stephen Burch

To see a gallery of more of my photos from this session, go to this page on my website.