Dusk Photography At Seaton Sluice

As has been apparent in my previous blog post, I've been frequenting St Mary's at dusk to try and work on some coastal landscape photography; on Thursday night I turned my attention North towards Seaton Sluice and Rocky Island.
The weather was fantastic, however a few more clouds in the sky would have really increased the drama I wanted in the shots. Overall I couldn't find the shots I was after, I attempted to salvage what scenes I could and was relatively happy with what I achieved.
I have ordered a few ND filters to help with the brightness of the sun so until they arrive I have to make do with what I can.
I'm really enjoying my foray into coastal landscape photography; it really makes a change from wildlife photography, which I still do but have put on the back burner for now as I try to hone my camera craft towards landscape scenes in the North East as oppose to amateur wildlife shots.
- David
Nature North East

A Little Abnormality: The Curious Case Of A Local Little Owl

I was observing a pair of Little Owl today when I noticed something rather intriguing about one of the birds.
As you can see from the cropped image below, one of the owls has a deformity to the upper and lower parts of the beak, with both being unusually extended and curved.
As readers to this blog and those who know me personally will know, the petite bundle of feathers with an angry scowl that is the Little Owl is my favourite British bird. Which made the deformity even more of a surprise and a first for me.
I had heard about and seen photographs of other birds, such as Blue Tits and Parrots, with abnormal bill defects but never an Owl.
The deformity aside, this individual seemed to me to be in good health and this defect clearly isn't a life or death hindrance to the birds survival given how long it has clearly lasted with it.
It survived as a fledgling, successfully reached maturity and subsequently found a mate. This is one tough cookie and I have fingers and toes crossed that this pair will breed this year.

Watch this space....

David Dinsley

Nature North East / The Northern Owl Project