Short-eared owl

I'm still getting a heart flutter as I'm posting this.  

This morning, I set off fairly early to do a walk from Kettlewell.  It was a beautiful start to the day and a lovely walking temperature.  The light was pretty in the valley and I was glad I'd decided on a landscape day, leaving my big lens behind so I didn't end up swapping them all day.

What a div.

As I reached the top of the moors, I had a peculiar feeling of being watched.  I looked up and thought I saw a bird and as I looked again, I saw what I thought was a buzzard.

With a triple take, I realised it was far too pale and I'd not heard any of the usual mewing.  A short-eared owl was silently watching me from not too far up in the sky.

Little Dog and I sat in the grass for a good ten minutes enjoying watching it glide around.  It left us a short while later and I could see it hunting in the distance.  We carried on uphill.  All the way up, I was looking out for it across to the right and the occasional glimpses were still a real treat.  

All of a sudden in front of us, a bird took off and looked me straight in the eye.  Another short-eared owl!  I'm struggling to put emotions into words but it was quite incredible.  They were now both in flight hunting and didn't seem to be at all bothered by us sitting back down on the ground.  

I got this shot after it had been hunting for a while, had eaten a rodent on the wing and seemed to be coming back to check us out.

My macro lens came up trumps!