Short-eared Owls in The Fens

29th November 2023

After a most successful morning at Grafham Water time to move across to The Fens to see the Short-eared Owls. Arrived here a little earlier than normal as it would appear that at most sites across the country they have been flying earlier than normal this year, sometimes as early as mid-day.

Now in position so just a matter of waiting for that first flight, and in the meantime we were entertained by a rather tame female Stonechat.

The owls did indeed start flying earlier than usual, but often just short flights followed by a period of sitting on the ground.

Then the hunting got off in earnest. Difficult to say just how many owls there were but we definitely saw four in the air at once.

Lovely to be able to photograph them in good light rather than the gloom just before dusk.

At most sites the owls get chased by crows but here there is one particular owl that chases the crows. Here it is totally overturning one crow.

Wow, what an afternoon and we'll definitely be back for more action.