The Glorious 23rd May
On the face of it the evening of the 23rdMay looked like any of the other twenty before it – sunny, warm, calm and perfect for a hunting male Long Eared Owl. I was set up under my camouflage cloth by 6.30pm and shortly after the male Long Eared Owl flew out of the forest and set off over the moor in search of Voles. All I had to do was await his return and hope that he flew past me on his way back to the nest where the female was waiting with four large young. What happened next made all those hours of waiting worth while!
At 7.30pm the female left the nest and alighted on top of the tallest pine, calling continuously for food.This was the moment I had been hoping for as I knew that if the male Owl came back now with a vole there would be a food-pass, perhaps within camera range. I only had to wait a couple of minutes before I spotted him coming off the moor, low over the ground, with his vole. I focused on him as he came closer but on which fence-post would the food-pass occur? She flew in to him, I guessed correct and in a second I had my ten photos that I had never seen on film before. It never happened again!!
Published by
Gordon Yates
Updated on
August 5, 2023
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Gordon Yates - Wildlife Photographer
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Award-Winning Photography
Alongside filmmaking, Gordon has earned recognition in still photography competitions with the BBC, RSPB, Scottish Wildlife, and the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club — using his trusted Pentax equipment. One of his proudest achievements was seeing ten minutes of his work broadcast by Granada Television — a milestone in a lifetime dedicated to wildlife storytelling. Today, he continues capturing the natural world with his Canon EOS 7D and Canon XM2 digital camcorder.