Dark

I had stuff to do this morning, including running errands with R in Stratford, and I didn't make it up to the owl field until just after 2pm, by which time it was impossible to park in the lane. Driving slowly along it in the vain hope of finding a space that wouldn't put me axle-deep in mire, people I'd never seen in my life before turned from the wall to stare unwelcomingly as if they owned the place, and my irritation mounted rapidly. I'd just slithered up onto a spare bit of bank at the crossroads when Hillyblips arrived, and our cars wound up parked nose to nose. 

HB elected to set up her gear and stay in her current favourite spot on the corner, but I wandered on up the road where I bumped into a couple of other owling friends, and I spent the rest of the afternoon in their company. The three of us were still debating whether to head north or south when Technophobe and LooseCanon hove into view. Just after they'd moved on, a shortie appeared and flew straight along the north wall, directly past the lenses of three people who were standing there at the time. I'm not saying I'm jealous of this photo, but... Who do I think I'm kidding? Of course I'm jealous!

Anyway, as K said, you only need one owl, and eventually we got our one owl, at about half past four in pretty dreadful light. For the first few seconds of its flypast I couldn't get focus on it in the gloom, and I was starting to panic that I was going to miss it altogether when the autofocus suddenly caught hold. Luckily the tracking then held on for the next thirty frames or so, at which point the owl landed and didn't reappear. Given how dark it was, I'm not unhappy with this.

I may not have had the best of afternoons in terms of photo opportunities, but it was good to be out and about and chatting with people whose company I enjoy. And good too to know that there are at least three Short-eared Owls still up on the scarp, when everyone is very aware that their season is coming towards its close. One day quite soon the shorties (and photographers) will be gone, and the Barn Owls (and other local residents) will have the place to themselves again until next winter.