Return to moorhen home page

Return to section index

Image-of-the-Day by Subject

Image Taken on 14 Jan 2020 at 23:29    Image of day on 04 Feb 2020

... as you see here in a frame between the two leftmost images above


Ref: 20200204_d01_20200114_2329_069_fb6 tawny owl 11 minute visit and departure in rain 4 of 7 (crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image Taken on 05 Jun 2018 at 03:50    Image of day on 12 Jul 2018

One of the longer visits by the Tawny owl, starting with quite an active bird but spending the last 4 minutes standing so still that flicking through images on the camera suggested that something might have gone wrong (not shown).


Ref: 20180712_d01_20180605_0350_005-0357_014_fb6 tawny owl 11 minute visit to meadow post 01+02+04+06 of 10 (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg

Image Taken on 02 Jan 2024 at 06:08    Image of day on 27 Jan 2024

More detail from the rightmost image above.
Turning on the house lights attracts the attention of the Tawny Owl but the bird seems to think "Only one of the lights at the house - harmless".
The Tawny Owl turned round - possibly so as not to interfere with his eyes' dark adaptation - and spends a few more minutes back to camera before departing.


Ref: 20240127_d01_20240102_0608_190_fb6 tawny owl 11+ minute visit to meadow post inc seeing cameraman 3 of 4 (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 02 Jan 2024 at 06:03    Image of day on 27 Jan 2024

Ref: 20240127_d01_20240102_0603_177+0606_183+0608_190_fb6 tawny owl 11+ minute visit to meadow post seeing cameraman 1-3 of 4 (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg

Image Taken on 25 Feb 2018 at 18:34    Image of day on 27 Mar 2018

A Visit by what we think of as the 'local' Tawny owl.
After the landing (left) we get a illustration of the rotation of an Owls neck - 270 degrees from multiple sources (all possibly referencing the same original). While this sounds like the bird can almost 'look behind' it, it is actually (360-270) / 2 = 45 degrees short of completely backwards each way. The eyes are so big they can barely move them in their sockets', so to remove the 'blind spot' compare the middle and right images to see that this Owl also twists it's body to increase the amount of turn.


Ref: 20180327_d01_20180225_1834_005+1836_007+1843_017_fb6 tawny owl 12 mins visit landing + looks back right + left 1+3+5 of 6 (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 15 Jan 2017 at 01:41    Image of day on 21 Feb 2017

Several more Tawny Owl visits reveals 2 different individuals with distinctly different feather colour and patterning. This one made a very active 12 minute visit. How about the landing while looking the other way?


Ref: 20170221_d01_20170115_0141_018+0149_028_0150_029_fb6 tawny owl 12 minute visit (selected) 01+07+08 of 10 (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg

Image Taken on 17 Oct 2018 at 21:51    Image of day on 08 Dec 2018

A single Tawny Owl visit during a week.


Ref: 20181208_d01_20181017_2151_008-2200_020_fb6 tawny owl 12 minute visit to meadow post 1-3+5+6 of 6 (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg

Image Taken on 18 Mar 2016 at 22:21    Image of day on 20 Apr 2016

A 13 minute visit by a Tawny Owl mostly showed us the birds back, but the camera did catch this moment of the bird gazing up at we know-not-what.


Ref: 20160420_d01_20160318_2221_042_fb6 tawny owl 13 minute visit 5 of 5 (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 25 Jul 2016 at 04:04    Image of day on 06 Sep 2016

Tawny Owls move around on the post top quite a lot if they stay for more than a minute or two - this one spent 14 minutes staring intently down in various directions. This was the second and longer of 2 visits on the same night.


Ref: 20160906_d01_20160725_0404_018-0417_035_fb6 tawny owl 14 minute visit (selected) 1+2+6+7 of 7 (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg

Image Taken on 20 Nov 2018 at 21:46    Image of day on 07 Jan 2019

Just 10 minutes later the same Tawny Owl lands on the meadow post and stops there for a quarter of an hour.


Ref: 20190107_d01_20181120_2146_002-2156_015_fb6 tawny owl 16m visit to meadow post 2 of 4 (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg

Image Taken on 02 Sep 2016 at 03:23    Image of day on 20 Oct 2016

After weeks of absence a Tawny Owl individual made a 19 minute visit. Here is the flamboyant landing and the last two minutes of the suddenly agitated bird moving around on the top after 15 minutes of almost totally static images.


Ref: 20161020_d01_20160902_0323_011-0341_035_fb6 tawny owl 19 minute visit (selected) 1+5-7 of 7 (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 07 Aug 2016 at 01:53    Image of day on 22 Sep 2016

The 4 day plethora of Tawny Owl pics included one spending a couple of minutes on the post and then diving down onto site 5 (perhaps 10m away) and photographing itself as it landed.


Ref: 20160922_d01_20160807_0153_087+0154_088_fb6+e62_20160807_0156_195_fb5 tawny owl 1m visit and then pounce attack on ground 1-3 of 3 (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg

Image Taken on 07 Aug 2016 at 01:56    Image of day on 22 Sep 2016

Here is the Tawny Owl pounce in more detail. The bird's right Talon seems to have grabbed just a tuft of grass but the hidden left talon could have 'anything' in it, most likely one of the many Fieldmice (Wood Mice) that visit this site.


Ref: 20160922_e62_20160807_0156_195_fb5 tawny owl 1m visit and then pounce attack on ground 3 of 3 (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 25 Nov 2024 at 22:04    Image of day on 28 Dec 2024

Two visits by (probably the same) Tawny Owl 5 minutes apart: the first very brief (we show just the landing) and the second lasting at least 5 minutes.


Ref: 20241228_d01_20241125_2204_013+2209_015+2213_023_fb6 tawny owl 1min & 5+mins visits to meadow post 1-3 of 3 (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg

Image Taken on 05 Sep 2019 at 23:24    Image of day on 24 Oct 2019

After several weeks absence the Tawny Owl makes a couple of visits to the meadow post half an hour apart on either side of midnight, top and then bottom right in this montage.
The return may be have been encouraged by either the increase in the Mouse population, or the previous afternoons hack down of undergrowth around the post.


Ref: 20191024_d01_20190905_2324_037+20190906_0020_053+0014_041_fb6 tawny owl 2 & 8 min visits after brushcutting 3+1+2 of 3 (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg

Image Taken on 19 Dec 2025 at 17:16    Image of day on 31 Jan 2026

An hour after sunset the Grey plumaged Tawny Owl makes a two minute stay on the Meadow Post. The right 2 images are only half-a-second apart.


Ref: 20260131_d01_20251219_1716_025+1718_027+028_fb6 tawny owl 2 minute visit & departure at meadow post 1-3 of 3 (montage 2+3 acc 500ms)(r+mb id@1024).jpg

Image Taken on 19 Oct 2014 at 23:34    Image of day on 21 Dec 2014

As the nights lengthen we are starting to see more of the Owls. Here is the dark-faced tawny owl and a rather attractive 1-off image of the Barn owl with right leg ring.


Ref: 20141221_d01_20141019_2334_010+0541_006_fb6 tawny owl 2 minute visit 3 of 4 + barn owl (right leg ringed) single frame (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 03 Jan 2026 at 07:07    Image of day on 12 Feb 2026

An hour to sunrise catches a 2 minute visit by this Tawny Owl in one of the 'classic' poses.


Ref: 20260212_d01_20260103_0707_091_fb6 tawny owl 2 minute visit to meadow post(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 01 Jun 2025 at 23:32    Image of day on 16 Jul 2025

Perhaps twice a week at the moment a Tawny Owl visits the Meadow Post.


Ref: 20250716_d01_20250601_2332_341_fb6 tawny owl 2 minute visit to meadow post(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 02 May 2019 at 04:17    Image of day on 28 May 2019

On the second visit of the night, this Tawny Owl makes a really rather awkward landing on the post. This is the only image from the second visit, and the bird may have flown on to perch on one of the many other posts and branches that 'he' uses.


Ref: 20190528_d01_20190502_0417_141_fb6 tawny owl 2 minute visit to meadow post + landing 4hrs later 4 of 4 (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Comments and requests for image use

To make a comment, ask for information or to request a full resolution image, send us an email including the reference or the date for the image you are interested in.

All initial contacts should be made using the icon below:-