Short Eared Owl, Round III- Undisclosed site, Cheshire

With shorties I feel i've almost 'made it' with Owls, and yesterday I got my best shots yet. I could never tire of doing shorties, they're just such wonderfully dynamic birds. I have seen a fair few birds now, but these ones were by far and away the most obliging, although these shots took five gruelling hours in the wind, rain and without gloves too! The oportunity can be attributed to Mike Nesbitt, and these are really 'his' owls, he's worked so hard with them since november and I've just piggybacked on the back of that. Still, here are my offerings...

Off he went, quartering the field looking for any unfortunate rodents in his path...

...and in for a closer look right in front of me, stooping in on his prey...!

...and a composite of the owl going in for the kill...

...and onto a post! Right in front of me, looking for where the shutter sound came from...



...Found you...!                                                                                                                                            



What an awesome bird, completely brilliant experience!