The wise owl

Tawny owl, Redhills Wood, Arnside.

I'm making no apologies for blipping this, it's the prize I've been seeking all year. It was taken as the afternoon light was falling, under a tree canopy, under an overcast sky, with a 300 mm lens hand held on a ridiculously slow shutter speed and an impossibly high ISO. But it is a tawny owl, silently watching me from a high perch, and that's what I've been trying to find for so long.

There must be a couple of pairs of tawny owls living on Arnside Knott, and we hear them all the time at night around the house, and occasionally we see a dark shape glide through the garden. They are difficult to pin down during the day though, the best hope being to follow the commotion of smaller birds that mob them in their roosting places. I saw this bird fly across in front of me and land in the tree, followed by a couple of mobbing blue tits.

Other news. Wifie seems to be unaffected after her hour plus in the dentist's chair yesterday. Bob the Cat was a lot better this morning, and then we took him to the vet at midday. He's had his antibiotics and pain killers. The wound was cleaned up, and we could see the puncture marks of where another cat has bitten him. Poor Bob, he is the least aggressive of cats, but he will try to hold his ground if challenged. Clearly he met his match yesterday.

The photography exhibition. We went to see it in the afternoon. It's generating a huge amount of interest, and prizes in each category will be awarded tomorrow on the public vote. There are some really outstanding entries that wouldn't have looked out of place in a national competition. So I am pretty sure I'm not going to win any categories, but I'm pleased to have had so many photos accepted. It's been a useful learning experience too, to recognise the sort of photographs that easily translate into A4 prints, and those that don't. Photographs with gentle, subtle light and tones didn't come through as well, and nor did those with bright twinkly light reflected off ice and water. The Ice Runner was quite disappointing to look at, whereas the stoat that I found on my 365th, looks pretty good. My most favourited photograph of all time, Canada Morning, didn't even make it through the shortlisting process - an indication of just how good some of the other entries are.

ps My Dad's birthday today - he'd lost track of what day it was and when the cards appeared, he checked the date on the newspaper. I don't think he's getting online at the moment - but if you are out there, hope you had a good day and enjoyed the rugby.