Barn Owl at Pulborough Brooks

Encouraged by the pictures of the Barn Owl from Lincolnshire at the weekend, this evening I made a second visit to RSPB Pulborough Brooks, to see if I could see the Barn Owl which is nesting in the visitor center there.

I waited by the small pond just at the begining of the nature trail.  I noticed they have closed off the patio there, which is just below the nest, to avoid disturbance. Standing by the pond means your a good 30-40m away from the patio, and out of sight of the opening to the nest itself.

After about an hour, there he was!

Not sure what that is he's holding - a vole perhaps?

It was rather cloudy and the light was pretty flat - both of these shots were taken at 4000 ISO. Every time I think my D700 doesn't cut it for bird photography (due to the lack of crop factor), something like this pops up - my D300 would have been pretty useless in this light.

Now I know something about the route he uses and also spotted one of his perches. All I need is a nice sunset...