Night owl

This was a thrilling encounter.  I was sitting hoping to see a badger when a tawny owl landed right in front of me, about 5m away.  It was staring intently but facing away from me, presumably hoping to find a mouse or a rat.  The owl sat for ten minutes but then a badger came up behind it.  The owl was increasingly distracted by the badger and kept turning round to watch it. Eventually it gave up and flew off.  It was a memorable experience.

I recorded video to avoid any shutter noise from the camera and found I could get the owl to look towards me by making what I hoped were mouse-like noises.  The photo above is a frame grab from the video.  The owl sat completely motionless for several seconds at a time so I have edited this short extract.  The camera was hand-held but the result is not too bad.