- Andrew Fusek Peters waited six hours on two occasions to get photos of the owl
- The wildlife photographer took the picture on a secret farm in south Shropshire
- The little owl grows to between 21- 23cm and was introduced to the UK in 1800s
A keen animal photographer managed to capture the UK’s smallest owl on camera despite being perfectly camouflaged by acres of Shropshire woodland – but are you able to spot it?
Wildlife photographer Andrew Fusek Peters managed to get an image of the illusive animal after waiting for six hours at a secret location in south Shropshire on two separate occasions.
The ‘little owl’ is famous for being extremely difficult to spot, partly due to the species typically only growing to between 21- 23cm in size, but also as the population of the bird has plummeted 24 per cent between 1995 and 2008.
The ‘little owl’ is famous for being extremely difficult to spot, partly due to the species usually being just 21- 23cm in size
The 52-year-old photographer’s steady hand and keen eye managed to capture the owl blending in with the colours of the rusty, old barn near to the pylon – right at the moment the bird was staring directly back at him from afar.
The farmer who let him on the property to photograph the owl was amazed, saying he had never seen them close up of the animal despite nestling in his barns, Mr Peters said.
The dad-of-two said: ‘I was waiting for a long while to find one as they are notoriously hard to spot however the farmer had told me there were owls around there.
‘They live up to their name – they are little owls. So they are hard to spot at the best of times, but this one had craftily sat on the top of an old farm building where its colours blended right in.
‘It took a couple of visits and a lot of patience but it was well worth it to get the pictures of it. I was over the moon.
‘And to get the bird looking right at me was incredible. It shows just how alert they are – he was probably watching me for ages and no doubt knew the moment I spotted him but let me have my picture.’
Wildlife photographer Andrew Fusek Peters’ steady hand and keen eye managed to photograph the owl blending in with the colours of the rusty, old barn near to the pylon
The dad-of-two said: ‘I was waiting for a long while to find one as they are notoriously hard to spot however the farmer had told me there were owls around there’
The little owl was introduced into the UK in the 1800s but has seen its population plummet 24 per cent between 1995 and 2008
Mr Peters took the picture of the owl at a secret farm in south Shropshire, but had to wait for six hours on two occasions to take the pictures
Talking about the pictures, Mr Peters said: ‘It took a couple of visits and a lot of patience but it was well worth it to get the pictures of it. I was over the moon’