Me and Georgia had always wanted to travel to Scotland together, We had gotten WIlf in the past 6 months and so we were keen to travel within the UK as to include him on our travels. We decided to head up around the middle of March, we had the most amazing secluded cabin which overlooked Loch Venachar. We had planned to explore as much of the area as we could for the few days we had the place. Wilf was only young so we were cautious for how much we could push him on our walks.
What I love about the Scottish highlands is that everywhere you turn is a different postcard. The rolling hills stretch for miles and miles, gentle waterfalls that trickle their way down the hills into the lochs below them.
We had decided to travel on one of the days up the mesmerising stretch of road the A82, We headed north to Glen Coe. We had a couple of short walks planned all around the foothills of the three sister mountains on the outskirts of Glen Coe. Now up to this point I had found myself somewhat disappointed with what I had managed to capture on my camera. I hadn't had much luck up to this point with managing to capture wildlife images, I had a few interesting captures I was pleased with but what I was really after was to capture something exciting and unique.
Well the day was coming to a close and the sun was setting behind the hills, we decided to pull over on the road to explore another section of the area before we headed back to our cabin. started heading down into the valley below us off the road, we gazed over the landscape and I caught a glimmer of something gliding low across the grassland across from us, must've been 200m or so away from us. I pulled out my camera and looked through the view finder to take an image, looking back on the picture I saw that it was a Short Eared Owl. I couldn't believe it, This was my first sighting of one and it's exactly what I needed on this trip, I had to get closer. When all of a sudden I spot a second Shortie about 30 seconds later following in the firsts path, they criss cross each other through the valley as they hunt for their dinner.
I think this moment will forever remain one of my favourite photographing memories. I managed to creep my way through the long grassland, I had handed Georgia WIlf as she urged me to pursue getting closer. I carried on, on my own deeper into the valley. I was getting closer and closer, occasionally snapping action images of the Owls as they swoop and sway around the area. One had landed ahead of me but it was out of sight of a good shot, I got onto my belly and army crawled up this small mound I knew it was on top of. I carefully gazed over the top of the mound once I reached the top and there it was, must've been about 20 meters away...
Perched so perfectly on this boulder, rotating its head from one direction to another. It locked eyes with me as I try gather some composure to take some images. I snapped a fair few images before it takes flight once again, moving onto a boulder further down.
I couldn't believe how lucky I just was in that moment as I quickly look back on some of the images I had just managed to get. I couldn't wait to get back to Georgia and Wilf and show her the photos I'd just taken. We enjoyed watching the owls until they disappeared from us and so was our time head back down the A82 in the sunset towards our cabin and open a bottle of wine and look back on the images we both captured that day.
Now I love this image, but how I wish I could go back to that moment with what I know now about my camera and try again. But I'm so glad I did manage to capture this image. I'll cherish it forever is it was probably my gateway into actually taking this hobby seriously and diving head first into it.
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