Search for Shorties

Short Eared Owls. One of 5 species of Owl to be found on UK shores. An influx of these beautiful birds of prey arrive here for the winter months from Scandinavia, Russia and Iceland and can often be seen out hunting during daylight hours.

During a visit to Kilnsea Wetlands on the Holderness coast at the end of September 2021, Just after locking the car and setting off one of these birds rocketed out of a hedge and flew straight past me only meters away, It’s head turning to look me dead in the eyes as it went past. Alas, too fast for me and my camera to focus quickly enough. I managed a side on record shot but from that moment I was determined to have another crack at these Owls!

Another attempt at Kilnsea in early January proved fruitless for Owls but some nice views of Kestrels were enjoyed regardless as well as large numbers of wintering Brent Geese and a walk on the beach at Spurn Point. I had heard however that one of my favourite wildlife spots had seen very good showings of 3 Short Eared Owls - Bempton Cliffs on the Yorkshire coast.

A week later and I was heading for the Flamborough cliffs in search of these Owls, arriving at a bitterly cold and windy coastline just after sunrise. 2 hours in and no Owls. I had done some research which seemed to suggest the best time to catch the “shorties” was first thing in the morning and then again mid afternoon but admittedly I was beginning to wonder if it would happen today - maybe it was too windy?, maybe too cold? An RSPB warden then told us that 3 individual Owls were currently situated around the reserve and had generally been showing well around 10am and 2pm. So back to the car for breakfast and a quick warm up and then another try.

Back onto the reserve and this time closer to the bushes and hedgerows…Suddenly i spotted something on a fence post and bingo! Short Eared Owl! Just sitting there chilling out… There were also a few other bird watchers and photographers onto the same bird and everyone waited patiently, at a distance to see if the Owl would take off. After a bit of preening and shaking of the feathers it began hunting over the adjacent field.

After “Quartering” over the field for a while, with many visitors to the reserve completely oblivious to what was happening (but most with eyes and lenses firmly fixed on the Shorty) The Owl dived and caught its first catch. What was remarkable to watch however was a resident and very brave Kestrel then swooped in to steal the catch! And this kept happening! The Kestrel had realised it was easier to watch the Owl catch sometime and fight for it than spend time hunting itself!

Time after time when the Owl bagged a catch the Kestrel would arrive and steal it mid air, a remarkable spectacle! The Owl eventually got fed up and moved on to a further field for a while. They do circuits over the same grassy fields and generally know where the most successful hunting patterns are so it kept coming back to the same areas. Eventually, out of range of the Kestrel the Owl caught and retained its prize and went low into the grass to have its breakfast.

After some lunch ourselves we went back onto the reserve just by the visitor centre where the Owl was last seen. Eventually it was up again and the sun came out too. Some glorious winter light and a gorgeous Owl flying around in front of me! Awesome.

As the Owl was working its way around the field a second bird then appeared from nowhere and chased the first one back to its original field while the second took over the field in front of me. We now had 2 hunting Short Eared Owls in glorious light, although never together in one shot unfortunately. We did also see a bonus Sparrowhawk being chased by a crow and at one point one of the Owls.

The clouds moved back in and the Owls were hunting less and less so we called it a day after a fantastic few hours capturing these stunning Owls. I love the reserve at RSPB Bempton Cliffs which is usually only a location I would visit during spring/summer for the nesting sea bird colonies but with Short Eared Owls around in the winter the reserve can draw in crowds all year round. It is also home to Barn Owls, Peregrine Falcons and obviously Kestrels all year round so a great reserve to see birds of prey.

I will certainly be back in Spring for the influx of seabirds and the wonderful Northern Gannets. And I will certainly return next winter to try catch the shorties again!

All images copyright to Graham Perkin

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