Volemageddon

R and I have gone back and forth between these two images until we're both cross-eyed, without being able to agree, or even decide which of them either of us prefers. So in the interests of getting some sleep tonight, I've decided to post both. The header photo has the extra context of the dry stone wall, as well as an excellent diagonal leading line, but the extra is so unusual, and the intensity of that glare is so compelling... should I swap them? (Again?) I just don't know. Stop it! Step away and move on.

Anyhoo, both frames came from the same high-speed burst of shots, and were taken less than a second apart, during the only really good flypast I got from Smudgy Owl this afternoon - though it would probably be fairer to say the only flypast when camera and operator both performed, and I managed to get the tracking to catch the owl and hang on to it. Smudgy was one of at least four owls that came out today, though all of them spent far more time sitting in the grass than they did flying - at least in part because of an impressive strike rate when they did deign to hunt. This flight ended on the wrong side of a thorn tree for me to catch the dive, but I've posted an image to my Facebook page of the aftermath, when Smudgy Owl was resting in the grass and guarding its kill, before turning its back to the assembled photographers and eating its prize.

At the end of the afternoon I found myself chatting with three guys I hadn't seen before. Two were filmmakers and the third seemed to be a student, and their questions suggested that they were all new to the area. They commented on the sheer number of predators around - Red Kites and Kestrels as well as Short-eared Owls - and commented on the number of Field Voles they'd seen killed by raptors this afternoon. "It was volemaggedon!" said the student - which amused me far than it probably should have done.