After Dinner Snooze

I was photographing this fine Short-eared Owl in flight yesterday when it suddenly did a fast U-turn having seen a vole in the rough grass quite close to me.

The Owl dived in with its wings held well back to avoid damage and the fact that it stayed down confirmed that it had captured the Vole in its lethal talons

The Owl worked its talons into the vole until it was dead before transferring it head first into its wide open mouth for a down in one swallow that was assisted by closing its eyes and pressing downwards with its eye socket muscles on the vole to aid forcing it on down the hatch.

With its short ears projecting the Shortie then balled up to take a twenty minute 'After Dinner Snooze' while digesting the luckless Vole

  

I carried on watching this Owl for a further thirty minutes or so and my next blog shows it waking ,preening and wing stretching prior to it taking-off and carrying on with another daytime hunt.