30 Days Wild - Day 9: Caught short

After another day stuck indoors it was high time for some motorcycle therapy in the evening sunshine.

So off I went, accompanied by Parkinson Senior on his bike, to some of my favourite local hill-top roads for a gentle pootle around.

I find motorbikes make ideal mobile platforms for bird spotting and quite often find myself riding alongside swallows, swifts and even the occasional sparrowhawk on country roads.

I usually have Maria on the back as my expert bird spotter (the international signal for an interesting bird usually involving several jabs in the ribs followed by furious pointing) but not this time, I was on my own. I had to fit it in around all of the usual observations involved in manoeuvering 220kg of Japanese engineering (plus me) around these scenic country lanes.

But it seems I managed just fine, as I rose over the crest of a particularly quiet moorland road a short eared owl passed over right in front of me at just above head height. What a sight. By the time I'd performed a skillfully executed stop into a nearby gateway to get a closer look it was gone.

I've seen several of these in the winter at local sites but this was my first in the uplands where these fine birds of prey choose to breed in the warmer months.

No photo this time, so you'll just have to take my word for it!