Short eared Owl surprise

On Friday night, we held our local bird meeting up the pub. I say meeting, its just the local birders getting together and having to many beers and eating takeaways that we would not order, if we were sober. As the meeting or piss up went on till late, I didn't have a early start on the patch. The Valley didn't throw up any surprises, just 12 Redpoll, Fieldfare and 4 cracking Bullfinch were the highlights.So I went home for bit of lunch and about 3.30pm made my way to Rainham Marshes to look for Short eared Owls as Dick had a couple last week. Within minutes I had 3 birds hunting in front of me, not close but really great views, Poor light for pictures but stunning views.