In March this year, I spotted a bird way down the field on a fence post, after much staring through binoculars and trying to get some focus on it with the long lens, I worked out that it was indeed a Short-eared Owl.
Spookily enough, I hadn't seen one at all before but just before this event, I was up in Ardersier, down by the fort chatting to a birder who said, "it would be nice to see something special" at which point, a Short-eared Owl flew right behind us and over our heads! A first for us both and in the excitement, I didn't even attempt to get a shot, well, I did actually but they were awful.
That said, none of these are great shots, it's a long way away, I did try getting closer, standing down there for hours a couple of evenings. Nothing. As soon as I walked away, there it was!!!
These shots were from March 29th, whether that was my first sighting or not, I don't remember but probably was.
Annoyingly, it was there most evenings for a few weeks. They are ground nesting birds so I did wonder if my "hiding place" was actually near its resting place, hence never seeing it when I was there.
These are all very heavily cropped shots, you could barely make it out in the actual images. :)
Most of these shots are from around 400-500M distance!
I was still pretty chuffed that this bird was there most evenings, when I remembered to have a look, even if I never managed to get any really nice shots.
The next couple were taken on April 8th.
I've added some links to more information on these beautiful birds below and hopefully it will be back next year.
