Farewell Shorties

It has been a good winter for observing and photographing short eared owls. There seem to have been good numbers throughout the country and Lancashire has seen reasonable numbers. These sightings presumably have been linked to a good supply of voles which constitute the main food item of these wonderful birds.

West and South Lancashire has fared best but few have been seen in the Pilling area of North Lancashire which three winters ago hosted good numbers and photographers flocked to the area to record the event.I have joined in this winter's invasion visiting sites on the mosslands of south and west Lancashire where on the right day the shorties have performed well for the camera.

I made what will probably be my last visit at the end of last month and enjoyed a wonderful display as the owls enjoyed perfect hunting conditions with little or no wind and a warm and very welcome afternoon of Spring sunshine. Mike and I had first visited Marshside RSPB as mentioned in a previous post. From there we travelled further south as we had heard that barn owls had been showing well but were nicely surprised to find the short eared owls instead.I have shown a selection of many images taken that day and these will probably be the last of the shortie shots as they will soon be returning to their breeding haunts on the moorlands of Northern England.

Hope you enjoy my selection and I look forward to more memorable sessions photographing these fabulous birds in seasons to come.Thanks for looking and next time I will be posting an account of time spent recently with great crested grebes when I was fortunate to obtain images of the famous weed dance .