Day 1: Filming Barn Owls for Autumnwatch

So after welcoming Steve Phillips, an experienced wildlife cameraman for BBC 2’s Autumnwatch last night, we got up at 6pm apprehensive that we’d nail it day 1, the owl would give us a good display and job done...well here’s a little update on how its going.

We arrived down at the meadow around 6.30am giving us time to get in the right place and all the kit ready, Steve was using a Panasonic P2 Varicam with a huge Canon lens. I was using our Canon XLH1A recording HDV and Ryan was hoping to get some two-shots of us in the foreground and the owl dancing away in the background with a Sony PD 150, a small DVCAM.

Within five minutes of arriving we saw the owl, not hunting though, he flew along the river we think heading over to one of his roosting site, an old willow tree. About half seven our regular kingfisher flew over our shoulder down to the river. We grabbed the shots of the owl we could, not the morning we’d hope for but at least Steve knows the owls are actually there and that were not making them up....

We called it a morning at 10am and planned to return at half two for the afternoon stint. Again in the afternoon shoot, within five minutes of arriving we spotted him, this time a little further off. After about an hour of waiting, well chatting about cameras really, we decided to send Ryan off for a scout about in the car. Few minutes later we got a call from him saying the owl was perched on a fence post, Steve jumped at the opportunity to get a close-up so he headed off, leaving me on the look out. Just as Steve leaves in the car the the owl flies down into the meadow I’m standing in! Thankfully for Steve it was only another fleeting glimpse which saved most of the grief.

Day 1 down, tomorrow may be our last day to get the shots of the barn owl out hunting during the day. The weather really effects that chances of filming the owls in daylight, with over 15 hours of darkness, why would the hunt in the day?

We may have had a better chance if the weather in the night was bad, either too windy for the owls to hunt in (wind effecting their hearing and flight) or if its raining (their soft down feathers are perfect for silent flight but not very water resistant). Also if its a hard frost and very cold at night, especially in winter, the voles & shrews aren’t very active and over the winter months and become more diurnal. So the Barn Owl adapt and normally become more diurnal too.

The weather today hasn’t been helping with the challenge, raining most of the time. Hope for a hard frost and a clear, quite morning to get the shots tomorrow!

Thanks for reading!

Paul