SHORT-EARED OWL

Yesterday (as in the changed date and time of this post), Anna and I took advantage of the sunny weather and went for a walk on "The Ridgeway" about 10 miles south of Didcot, to look for Short-eared Owls. I hadn't ever seen one of these (moorland or downland) owls before, but knew they are regularly seen on "Bury Down" and "Cow Down" south of Didcot, on "The Ridgeway".
As is often the case with this type of activity, the journey to destination or your trip back often proves more fruitful in terms of 'things seen', and so it was yesterday.
Half way up the A34, about 5 minutes from the "Bury Down Car Park" (which is right on top of "The Ridgeway", I witnessed a (unmistakeable) Short-eared Owl flying relatively low over the A34, right in front of and above our car. The first I'd ever seen! A wonderful view, from about 50', and from the sodding car! If we'd have been 30 seconds earlier or later we'd have seen bugger all, as we didn't see any owls on The Downs, (every man, woman and dog were out for a walk also) - "The Ridgeway" does have stunning views though, and we did see Buzzards, Sparrowhawks, a Kestrel, Skylarks, Lapwings and Yellowhammers during our walk along "The Gallops" at the top of The Ridgeway.
Short-eared Owls can often be seen during the day, rather like Little Owls, and because they hunt over moorland or downland, they are (or should be) easier to see than nocturnal woodland owls for example.
If you want to see Short-eared Owls, always look along fence posts around such areas - very often, if it isn't disturbed (like yesterday), a Short-eared Owl will be sitting on a post like that, watching you WELL before you see it!
I've added two photos to this post - the first (above) is a marvellous 'portrait photo' of a Short-eared Owl, taken on "The Downs" that we were walking on yesterday.
The photo to the right is a photo of a Short-eared Owl taken in the same area as we were walking in yesterday, and is pretty well the same sort of view we got from the car.


[Photos (c) Jerry O'Brien and Mike Prince, from "The Birds of Berkshire Website"]



The last photo of this wonderful owl is courtesy of Arthur Grosset again, (c)Arthur Grosset.com, showing the owl engaging in typical moorland quartering behaviour. A fantastic photograph - note the owl's "pyjama bottoms"!