An adult short-eared owl pauses atop a fence post as it hunts small mammals, mainly voles, in the machair of the crofting townships of North Uist, Outer Hebrides. Two cattle are visible in the field behind the bird.
Short-eared owl (Asio flammeus) sits on a post of a stock fence on a croft in North Uist, Western Isles, Scotland with two cows in the background