The Short Eared Owl is nocturnal, but commonly hunts in daylight. Due to this I was extremely privileged to be able to photograph this stunning bird as it hunted over some local moorland.
Over a period of a few evenings and a few days, monitoring the weather and light conditions mainly, I would drive to a local nature reserve equipped with tripod, camera and binoculars and wait patiently for a sighting.
These birds won't hang around for long before they head up North, so I was eager to get a few images of this magnificent species and they didn't disappoint. I observed at least 4 Short Eared Owls hunting over the moorland, often quickly swooping onto its prey in a field littered with voles, witnessing ariel battles and beautiful fly pasts.
The Short Eared Owl has increased in species over the last 70 years but recently appears to have declined as the range has shrunk back towards the northern uplands. A more worrying concern is persecution in the uplands, especially in areas managed by gamekeepers for Red Grouse shooting. Numbers in Europe fluctuate strongly but appear stable.
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