An evening of photography at the Barn.

Some evenings just work.

As wildlife photographers, we spend what seems most of our life waiting for moments that often last less than a heartbeat.

This summer has felt like a lot of waiting.

As is often the case with weather in the UK, it has not been on my side recently.

Of the evenings i’ve spent up at this barn it feels as though only a handful of those have seen a long golden hour and provided good photographic opportunities with this family.

Nevertheless, they’ve been successful again raising another clutch of chicks and i recently had an evening where all my efforts were rewarded!

I spent the first few hours watching the this male barn owl hunting.

Positioned as i was, this barn owl was between me and the setting sun which allowed for this darkened background effect, with the deep shadows of the background really helping to bring out the details in feathers.

As a result of all the time i’ve spent up at this barn, i’m getting pretty good at predicting the routes these guys take while hunting. On this night i was in the right spot at the right time to be able to capture these close up shots of the barn owl, who couldn’t have been more than 20m away from me.

After a little while one of the fledgelings got a little brave and took a little short flight outside the barn.

The dishevelled, just got out of bed, look as a result of the downy feathers helps us to ID this as one of this years chicks. My best guess is that this is a female and roughly 50 days old.

She quickly retreated back to the barn and perched beautifully for me in front of the window i’ve grown so fond of.

It was here that she stayed for the rest of the evening, while her dad perched on a wall just away from the barn and her brother poked his head out of the front.

I’ve written before on the importance of getting to know your local patch, this evening is testament to that.

An evening that will live with me for a long time.