UKH

Lucky for my first attempt at sighting Short-eared Owls on Fri evening with seeing two of them hunting in the open albeit at a long distance away at times.

The two were hunting near to each other so maybe a pair. Graceful and agile; lovely to see and observe. Criss crossing the fields/moorland, sometimes hovering, sometimes pivoting on the spot and dropping to the ground, and long low fast glides.

Great shots.

Because of their plumage, SEOs when on the ground are also excellent for setting/adjusting the dioptre setting on binoculars.

Nice.

We saw a pair near Kingshouse, Glencoe on Wednesday. Don't remember seeing them there before.

Lovely.

Disappointingly I've only seen one Shortie all winter this year.

Just saw a SEO on my run an hour ago.

They are, as far as I am aware, the only owl native to Orkney.  As we have very little tree cover, they are regular sighted.

Lovely birds.  They seemed to suffer a downturn in population a few years back when we had an influx of stoats.  Incredible how quickly their numbers grew, to the detriment of ground nesting birds.  Stoats being trapped now and the owls are returning.

Lovely pics, well done!

Great pics.

I was excited on my bike ride into work this morning along the river as a pair of oyster catchers were dive bombing what looked like a Tawny owl,  who I guess got a bit close to their nest.  Amazing what mothers will do to protect their eggs.

Made my morning anyway.