Cut Across Shorty - on 11th November to 16th November, 2018

Prompted by a report of Short-eared Owl at a site near my home on Saturday 10th November, I set off to Longmoor Lake, near Normanton Le Heath, after lunch on the Sunday.

Sunday, 11th November

The bird had been reported as seen on the east side of the lake, and I arrived to find one birder leaving, and another (a person known to me) waiting patiently by a gate. So far, there'd been no sign of Short-eared Owl (SEO) that day. 

Because my brain was telling me that 'east' was in a different direction to actuality, I exchanged phone numbers with the gentleman by the gate and went off to look in another area, which looked very promising - I was, in fact, to the north of the lake, as I discovered later when I took out my phone to check my location.

Several other people turned up to try and find the SEO but favoured the place by the gate. A couple that had already given up and were heading out, stopped to chat with me and suddenly I noticed a movement out of the corner of my eye. It was the typical curved drop to the ground that an owl makes. Within a few moments the owl was spotted - we had our SEO!

I phoned the person by the gate, and then put out a message on the Leicestershire and Rutland Ornithological Society (LROS) WhatsApp group. Soon I was joined by others, including my old pal Rhys who had been elsewhere on site. The bird stayed distant, quartering the field that we were standing at the edge of.  Occasionally, it flew over the hedge, and then came back again. However, on one occasion, what we originally thought was the same bird came down the far side of hedgeline. It was then that Rhys spotted that there was another SEO back in the original field - we had two SEOs in view!

The bird that had flown down the hedgeline had continued over to the east side of the lake. The original bird quartered the field for a while more, then crossed over the track in front of us, briefly stopped in a distant tree, and then joined the other bird on the east side of the lake.

I didn't get any particularly pleasing images from that session, but here are a few for the record:-

Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) - by Longmoor Lake

I also took a few distant shots of a very busy Stonechat. Here's one:-

Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola) (female) - by Longmoor Lake

Monday, 12th November

I returned to have another attempt at getting photos of the Short-eared Owls. To my delight, however, the first owl to appear was a Barn Owl.

Barn Owl (Tyto alba) - by Longmoor Lake

When the SEOs did arrive, they made their way to the east side of the lake fairly quickly. I decided to head over and join the people there, but this turned out (for me) to be a wrong decision. The owls kept relatively low and a lot of intervening shrubs made photography quite difficult. As the light faded, one of the owls flew past to my original position and spent a little while there - I should have stayed put! This very poor shot was the best I came up up with of a SEO that day.

Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) - by Longmoor Lake

Tuesday, 13th November

I stuck to my resolve to hold my original position on the north side of the lake this day, and had no regrets that I did so.

As on the previous day, the Barn Owl was first to put in an appearance, and it was an absolute delight to watch it hunting.

Barn Owl (Tyto alba) - by Longmoor Lake

Soon, the first SEO appeared, and it became apparent that SEO and Barn Owl were heading towards each other. I'm kicking myself for missing the talon to talon moment when they met, but only managed a 'record shot' with both birds in the frame - possibly never to be repeated for me.

Barn Owl and Short-eared Owl - by Longmoor Lake

I did fall short of getting satisfying SEO images, but managed a few that didn't go straight into the bin - I'm not too disappointed with the last one of the trio.

Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) - by Longmoor Lake

Wednesday, 14th November

I was back again, and very firmly resolved to stay at the north end of the lake. The Barn Owl was already out when I arrived just after 15h00.

Barn Owl (Tyto alba) - by Longmoor Lake

The SEOs appeared just a short while later. I witnessed  several interactions between Barn Owl and SEO and a couple of interactions between SEOs, all at a distance, and didn't manage to capture any images. However, from where the action took place, I was definitely in the right place. The penultimate image, although of poorer quality, is there as it shows the owl with prey.

Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) - by Longmoor Lake

There were at least two SEOs present that evening, but I suspect that there may have been more. My companion commented with words to the effect that life doesn't get much better than this, and I had to agree. Watching owls hunting is the most fabulous experience!

I did not feel able to return on the Thursday evening as I was giving a talk on owls that night and wanted to conserve my energies.

Friday, 16th November

I had a call from friend, Doc Martin, to ask if I was going to Longmoor Lake, and as I was, in spite of the very dull weather with a chance of rain that was forecast, he kindly offered to give me a lift. 

On arrival  on site, I was very disappointed to see that some irresponsible persons had decided that it was acceptable to stand outside in front of the hide, especially when there are signs to state that this is a 'no access' area.

Martin and I headed for my usual position beyond the other end of the lake. At least two Short-eared Owls were present and we witnessed several altercations between pairs of owls. However, photography was nearly impossible, and this 'record shot' is the best I could manage. The Barn Owl didn't show while we were there.

Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) - by Longmoor Lake

Better weather is forecast for the weekend and, all things being equal, I shall be back again, so it might well be owls again in my next blog post - especially if I am able to get better images than I have so far.

- and the title of this blog post - it seems that, whenever I'm watching a distant Short-eared Owl, I'm silently humming to myself Eddie Cochran's 'Cut Across Shorty'!

Thank you for your visit.