Hunting LEO

 

This is the first spring where I've known adult Long-eared Owls to go out hunting before sunset. Some evenings the males would be out two hours before sunset and would range quite far. It seems to be a good vole year, so I can only imagine they have been heading out early because of the size of the broods — I hadn't ever seen a brood of four before this spring (the last time anyone had a brood of four locally was in 2019).

We had come across hunting Long-eared Owls a few times in daylight in late April, but it was only when the young were branching that I checked to see if it was a regular occurrence. These shots were taken on one of the first evenings I waited. I kept my distance, as I hadn't had much experience of hunting Long-eared Owls before, so they are very much record shots rather than frame-filling images — but I like them.