In the spotlight Short-eared owl (Asio flammeus)

Often active in daylight over open pastures and moors, the short-eared owl is a charismatic hunter, favouring open country in the North, including Scotland, where its engaging moniker is ‘short-horned hootlet’. Yet winter sees the arrival here of numerous migrants that have made the perilous flight across the North Sea for relief from the winters of Scandinavia.

For the next few months, these peripatetic, graceful fliers may be seen, sometimes communally, quartering open ground in midland and southern counties, especially over rough pastures, fens and saltmarshes. A good year for voles will see correspondingly higher numbers of owls, as the abundance of the former directly affects the latter. Recognising the shortie is relatively easy. His ears are not visible and the eponymous feathery tufts on top of the head will seldom be raised. Instead, look for the Lou Reed 1970s-vintage dark smudges around yellow-irised eyes, a generally pale face and a long wingspan compared with body length. Asio flammeus’s plumage is much more brown, barred and contrasting than the pale, ghostly barn owl, and the wing tips are noticeably black.