As I’ve only ever seen Short-eared owls once before – and those two were mere specks, very distantly flying back and forth over Kenfig National Nature Reserve’s dunes at dusk five years ago, I felt compelled to seek out the bird that was reported from the local coastal fields on Wednesday. I had slipped and squelched my way around the sodden field edges, stood staring this way and that for almost two hours when the sounds reached me of Carrion crows creating a ruckus – always worth a look. I turned in that direction just in time to see two crows following close behind an owl flying along the hedge line of the adjacent field. I was on the opposite side of the field to where they were so I grabbed a couple of quick photos and hurried as fast as I could around my field to the corner of theirs. Unfortunately, the owl had gone to ground, perhaps literally, and, though I waited and watched for another 40 minutes, there was no further sign. But I was still buzzing all the way home!