On the hunt

Silently swooping over the Lincolnshire countryside, this short-eared owl is searching for its next meal. Unlike other owls, it is often spotted hunting during the day, flying low over moorland, grassland and saltmarshes. Named after the tiny and inconspicuous tufts on top of its head, this golden-eyed bird is affectionately known as a ‘shortie’. In England, numbers of short-eared owls are boosted in the winter by an influx of birds migrating from Scandinavia, Russia and Iceland.
© Ben Hall/Minden Pictures