Kestrel Chicks .

For a good few years now , there have been a pair of Kestrel's that have been nesting in a hole in a Ash Tree where i walk my dogs . I have been lucky to stand and watch the parents come back with various dead animals and disappear into the nest to feed the chicks . I could always hear and see the parents around the wooded area . And i could always hear the chicks making noise when the parents came back with food for them . But i never managed to catch a glimpse of the chicks !!

This last week i have been away in The Lake District having a week of doing very little , as the weather was cloudy and rainy most of the week . All i was able to do was take the dogs out for long wet walks . The dogs always managed to get muddy as well !!

On Saturday 9th June i decided to take a trip to Appleby Horse Fair . This is something i have wanted to do for a good number of years . But was never in the area when it was on . I was always either too early or too late !!! But this year i was there at the right time . I shall be blogging about this later next week .

Today after a good journey back from our holiday . Yes , the M6 motorway was flowing well all the way !!! And i managed to get home in just over 3.5 hrs in the old Land Rover , with the two dogs in the back . The dogs were getting a tad restless with about 40 mins to go . So i knew they would need a walk after i had finished un-packing the cars .

Quick cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit and it was then out with the dogs . I had intended to go out for at least an hour . But when i turned the corner on our walk . I noticed that the tree that the Kestrel's nest in had been damaged by the strong winds that our area had had while we were away (we were lucky that we missed this where we were staying !!) The first thing  that came to my mind was , how are the chicks ??? I knew they would be only a few weeks away from fleeing the nest . And was upset to think that their nest had been destroyed and the chicks would be dead !!! But as i got closer , i could hear the chicks making their normal noise . Only this time it was much louder than normal . I stopped and looked at the huge limb that had come off of the Ash tree . Low and behold , there were the two chicks , sitting on the limb making noise for their food . I was now worried that their parents would have abandoned them , as there nest was destroyed . i wandered away . But stayed within looking distance . And then i saw the parents come back with food , feeding their two chicks . I don't know if there were more than two before the tree was damaged . But i was overjoyed to see healthy chicks an parents still feeding them !!!!

The dogs only got around 15 minutes walk . As i headed back home to collect my camera and my favourite lens for wildlife . So armed with my Nikon D700 , Sigma 300 2.8 and Sigma 2x converter . I headed back to the chicks . I positioned myself so that i did not disturb the chicks . Only one was around . So i can assume that they do have somewhere safe to go to , out of view of any predators . I managed to fire off around 70 photos . I had to use a fast ISO on the camera , so it was set at 3200 !! Back in film days this would have made the images really grainy . But luckily , today's digital cameras are much better with fast ISO  . And the Nikon D700 is well known for showing very little noise (grain in old talk ) when you push it . I have used it at 6400 inside churches when shooting weddings and there was very little noise to worry about !!! This is why i now love using a digital SLR  :-)

I have uploaded a few photos from today . I do plan on keeping my eye on the chicks and hope to get some more photos , when the light is a tad better !!!

 Lovely too see a fluffy Kestrel Chick .

 Checking if the wings work !!

 Looking straight into camera . I warmed the colour temp up a small amount as well on this image .

Yes , the wings do work . Although this image isn't very sharp , due to low light . This is why i intend to pop back and hide away to get some more images .

Thanks for taking time to read my blog. And i hope you have enjoyed the photos .View more images on my website http://www.eternityimages.co.uk/Home.aspx

Many thanks , Mark