Night Hide - Part 2
My first blog in January 2022, “A night in a hide” detailed my visit to “the Mouse Nest” in Lincolnshire for night time shots of Owls and Foxes. Well ever since my visit there my daughter has wanted to visit too so at the beginning of September, just before the new school year started I booked myself, my wife and daughter into the hide.
We arrived for 7pm and our host Lee let Amelia help him put the feed out for the wildlife before helping setup our gear and showed us the previous couple of nights visits on the tv monitor (more about this on the original blog)
Just like the previous visit, the Little Owl came in straight away, no waiting at all for this bird, the smallest of all UK Owl species. It was however the only visit of this species we had tonight whereas last time the Little Owl was in and out all night.
Last time however I received only 1 visit from a Tawny Owl, the UKs most common species…This time the Tawny kept returning and another one appeared too, they could also be heard calling all night too - I do love that sound! My previous visit was pretty windy and that put the Tawny Owls off, not so this time luckily!
Another variation from last time was the number of Barn Owl visits! This night had them coming in and out all night and at one point 2 together! One even dived down into the grass and came up with a rat it had caught before despatching it, mostly whole!
Fox visits were less this time round, possibly the younger foxes are now out finding their own territories. I was however distracted taking shots of a Tawny Owl at the other side of the hide while my daughter was taking shots of a fox at her side.
A shorter visit this time as the nights are obviously shorter but very pleased with the results yet again, the hide is a stunning setup and so easy to take images using Lee’s flash system and live cameras. Amelia loved it and stayed up all night too! It didn’t take long to fall asleep in the car however! Have a read of the previous night hide blog for more info of how the hide operates and if it is something you are interested in doing for yourself then find “The Mouse Nest” on facebook!