Owls yesterday...

Apparently there were three working this field yesterday, and two early this morning. But this afternoon they were hunkered down in the rough - and frankly I don't blame them: according to the car thermometer it was 5°C, but up at 1000 feet, with a bitter wind whisking in from the north west, it felt a good deal colder.

I stuck it out for an hour and a half - glad to be out even in these conditions, after several tedious hours at my desk doing financial stuff - but the primary entertainment was listening to a group of regulars at the site ribbing each other, and exchanging compliments on photos taken on better birding days. I snapped this hunting kestrel as much to keep my circulation moving as for shooting practice; interestingly, a couple of the regulars had stories of seeing (and on occasion even managing to photograph) kestrels mugging owls for voles, which made me feel rather less sympathetic that this one was having to work so hard for its dinner.