Short-eared Owl - Asio flammeus

Jeff Hodgson - Chester
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Short-eared Owl - Asio flammeus
Short-eared Owl - Asio flammeus

3rd January 2024
Manchester Mosses

Richard is still encumbered by a surgical boot as a result of an Achilles injury sustained while engaged in the very dangerous occupation of photographing owls. Cabin fever is getting the worse of him so on my way back from Sheffield I picked him up for a trip on to the Mosses.

There had been up to 11 SEOs there last year roosting in hawthorn hedges, readily visible from a farm track, but photographers still insisted on trespassing on to the farmer’s land, resulting in him cutting the Hawthorns back to around one metre tall, unsuitable for roosting owls so this year they are roosting in long grass on the Mosses, in truth a much more traditional SEO roosting habit.

The light was pretty variable on the Mosses, either very dark or when the sun was out the SEOs were heavily backlit, hence the extreme variability in some of these shots. We certainly saw two SEOs, probably three.

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Taken on: January 3, 2025
Sets appears in:   • BIrds    • Owls   
Groups appears in:   • BBC Springwatch (Official)    • Micro Four Thirds (Micro 4/3)   
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