juvenile Kestrel, Meadow Pipit and female Peregrine with prey

Nightjars in natural light

or actually no light really -- ISO 6400 on the 1D4 with the Canon 300 2.8 II at pretty slow shutter speeds -- now if the 1DX had arrived then they would all be perfect --

Most pictures of flying Nightjars are obviously illuminated with flash but a) I am not great on flash and b) I like to try and show the bird how you usually see it - whether that succeeds or not is I guess personal taste

back to reality -- Roe buck

early morning -- its a bit hard to concentrate with the number of mossies that are draining your blood this year

Hawk Owls

an iconic bird and one many birders travel a long way to see -- but every one is special -- the rpize winning shot which I missed of course was of the adult female from one nest chasing an Arctic Hare across a meadow where two young were sat in the grass -- usually white or grey skies but you make the most of what you get when the birds are there

baby Hawk Owls

young from several nests featured here -- amazing to watch them running across meadows and climbing  vertical tree trunks; the young in the nest were right at the tree line but the oldest brood were only about 4kms away from the late nest -- all seemed to be thriving on a plentiful vole supply -- and no we did not put the bird on the birch stump in fact I have to admit that I walked right past it so effective was its camo -- the last shot is one of my favourite images from the trip but I guess its all a matter of taste