Owl avoids hunting dogs

With the high winds of late this Short-eared Owl  has been hunkered down in the long rough grass to avoid the winds between bouts of hunting but yesterday it was quite calm through the morning and the bird was using more open higher perch points such as stone walls and fence posts as shown in the first five images to watch for its prey.

This pair of local dogs were suddenly on the loose for well over an hour without their owner and they were having a lovely time chasing rabbits through the gorse and hedgerow and they fairly quickly picked up on the perched owl which had to move several times only to be disturbed again.

It was good to see this fine pair of dogs that were obviously firm friends enjoying their time out but the Owl obviously thought otherwise and it moved back down into the central field area to avoid the dogs hunting along the hedgerows.   Good Move !

The dogs eventually disappeared off through the gorse looking for more sport and after waiting a few minutes to be sure they had gone and our wise old Owl was back on to its own more serious hunt for Voles