Hunting Shorties

I have become obsessed recently with photographing short eared owls. I have taken many hundreds of images on my visits to two locations on the Lancashire mosslands where the owls have been active during daylight hours. There has been a lot of unsuitable weather of late with many dull dismal and drizzly days . Occasionally though the sun has managed to put in an appearance and the owls have responded by coming out to hunt.

So it was yesterday, when it was a lovely sunny afternoon with little or no wind.I picked up Simon and we met up with Martin at the location where the owls had been showing. Not long after our arrival the owls appeared and for the rest of the afternoon we were treated to some wonderful fly pasts as they quartered the rough grassland looking for prey. We were joined by another party of photographers and we all clicked away as the owls performed for us.

I have selected a few of the many images I took of the action and they are shown above. I have concentrated on the owls in the process of hunting close to the ground as they looked for voles and mice. I have also tried to show images where the afternoon sun picked up the detail of the birds and gave a nice warm feel to the shots. I hope my readers enjoy these images as much as I did in capturing them and I hope to return again soon. Currently wet and gloomy weather has returned and I may not get out again for a few days.