As I drove on I spotted another tawny owl closer to the road. It's so unusual in the daytime to see a tawny owl close up, I thought I had struck gold. But when I focussed my camera the owl's right eye was clearly badly injured. I tried catching the owl but it was still very mobile and flew off.
Unfortunately I don't think this one will make it through the winter. It may have been hurt fighting for territory or it could have been hit by a car.
Pictured below is the view across the dale of Fotherdale, my home and gallery.
But whilst it looks very pretty, the cold has been very tough on wildlife. Just this week five barn owls in this area have been reported dead. And when I went to check on the one that lives in this box I found it too had died of starvation.
I did, however, see this, very beautiful, one attempting to hunt in the 18"deep snow in Millington Pastures.
As the snow fell relentlessly she took to shaking it off in quite a comical manner!
And then she was off, looking for a vole.
The snow looks very picturesque, but unfortunately it has meant I've had to cancel my talk on the migration in Kenya's Masai Mara tonight. 
Although the drifts are nothing like those we had last year, and plenty of visitors have braved the roads and visited the galley today, I was a little worried about encouraging another 40 cars on the road tonight.
Those of you who went on the two bird watching walks this weekend came back delighted. I hear the walk to find winter migrants on Saturday was a success. Michael Flowers, who led the walk, reported spotting fieldfares, yellowhammers and bullfinches as well as a very good view of redwings - and of a kestrel to boot. 
And the walkers who took the trip on Sunday to find red kites also spotted a peregrine falcon, a buzzard, a green woodpecker and flocks of fieldfare.These walks are so popular I definitely feel they should become a part of all my exhibitions in the future. 
Tomorrow I will be giving a talk myself about my trips to see the wildebeest migration in Kenya's Masai Mara - I've been digging out the photographs all day in preparation.
This TV vet's talk on how he cares for some of the world's most dangerous animals was both funny and exciting - especially his descriptions of how to castrate a hippo!
These beautiful birds migrate to the UK when food stocks further north begin to run out. The first birds land in huge flocks on the north east coast and so we are ideally placed to see them here. It's only when you photograph these birds that you can see what the human eye misses. 
They toss the berries up in the air before gobbling them down whole.
I spotted this mistle thrush getting in on the act, presumably before the berries are all gone. 
Rowan are native to Scandinavia and tend to be their first choice of winter food, but they go on to hawthorn and other berries once they've stripped the rowans. When they can get them they also eat insects, catching flies on the wing like flycatchers.
Waxwings get their name from the red tip to their primary wing feathers which look as though they've been dipped in sealing wax.
So far the exhibition has been a great success. We had more than 1,000 visitors during the opening weekend and today a group of 30 from Pocklington U3A.
The birdwatching walks with Michael Flowers (pictured above) were great. The group looking for winter migrants on Saturday saw fieldfares, finches, a redwing and 20 golden plovers heading south. As a bonus they also spotted a water rail, a little owl, a yellowhammer and a kestrel displaying. 
Whilst on Sunday the red kite watch saw 13 red kites coming in to roost - as well as a green woodpecker, a pair of marsh tits and a redwing.
Everybody came back pleased with themselves and I think they enjoyed the exhibition of paintings all the more after having seen some of the birds in the wild first.
And tomorrow night's talk by the zoo vet Matt Brash should be good. He's a very entertaining speaker and very knowledgeable about wildlife.
