Barn Owl in the marshes. 12th Jan 2023.

 Wonderful to watch this female Barn Owl quartering the marshes in bright sunshine this afternoon.

This was after the surprise of putting a Bittern to flight as I approached....it saw me before I saw it!

This owl has either damaged it's alula (bastard wing) on it's right wing or it's dived into the vegetation and messed up its plumage and failed to preen it out.

It'll be interesting to check over the next few days on how it looks. However it doesn't seem to have affected its flying ability although maybe some of its finer flight skills will be reduced.

Here are a few more images both in the sunshine and as the light began to fade to dusk.