December has been a fantastic month so far.
Currently the best December moment was my discovery of a long-eared owl roost in Lincolnshire, by a large lake. It was a magical moment being so close to those beautiful owls, 3 in total, as they slept, then started to wake up and began preening and glancing around. I especially loved the colour of their irises, a fiery orange. It was especially interesting to me that this took place exactly a year after I encountered an eagle-owl in Spain in similar circumstances.
At Roydon Common, I saw 3 hen harriers (including 2 males), 1-2 merlin falcons, and on one visit a pair of short-eared owls, which rarely occur here. The merlins are an absolute nightmare, however.
And at Wicken Fen, I had 4 short-eared owls flying around at close range, one of which kept coming extremely close to me, joined by a barn owl.
Of course, those views are still not quite what happened when a short-eared owl landed 10-15 meters away from me at Eldernell in January, but still exceptional!