Out last night just as the sun was setting thanks to meetings with late and lethargic clients. A party of three Long tailed Tits fed next to a spot where they have bred in previous years. Not too pleased I was about judging by the look I got. Then as I headed down the bumpy road a familiar shape sat on the abandoned trailer that became so familiar to all and sundry a couple of years ago.
There sat a Short eared Owl who, upon hearing the camera (for once I wasn't happy the wind had dropped) immediately flew off to the middle of the field. I re-located the bird perched in a bush and being hassled by a pair of Magpies who have started nesting just fifty yards away. I waited for the bird to be flushed and start hunting but after fifty minutes having studiously ignored the Magpies and kept a wary pair of eyes on me, the bird eventually stretched and took off into the now pretty much complete darkness.
This left me with a quandary as twice over the last two weeks I have seen an Asio species owl hunting after dark and had assumed due to the lack of daylight sightings it was likely to be a Long eared but maybe this shorty prefers the night.
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