I finally got round to catching my nemesis last night! I've honestly lost count how many times I've seen Short-eared Owls this winter while out dazzling on the hills, and how many times I've got one or two paces from actually catching them!! Well the wait is now over, this handsome little chap decided to give up the chase last night and let me catch him, and all within 5 mins of getting out of the car. I made a quick phone call to dad upon catching him, as he only lives minutes away and I knew he'd be interested in seeing the Shortie. Despite him being speachless, I got the impression he was just as amazed as I was.
Amazingly this is the second Shortie caught at this site in the space of a few weeks!
Not being sattisfied with catching a Shortie (who am I kidding, I was just being greedy), I popped to another site on the way home to see if there were any other birds that wanted to be ringed. Despite seeing only 6 birds at this site, I managed to catch 4 of them including 2 more stunning Jack Snipe (amazingly my 10th and 11th of the winter!)!!
The total catch for the evening was 1 Short-eared Owl, 2 Jack Snipe, 2 Woodcock, 2 Fieldfares and a Skylark! I'll struggle to have another night like it, but it won't stop me trying!
Cracking catch mate, that's one that will live on for a while!!
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