

The Owl Encounter
Loud alarm wakes me up at 2AM. It's a chilly, misty October night. I brace myself and crawl out of my warm sleeping bag and out of the tent. It's time to check the nets for owls. I put on my waders and waterproof cloak, grab the torch and head to the center of a reedbed. In the complete silence I can only hear the sound of dense mud clinging to my legs and rustling of the reeds around me. In order to extract an owl from a mistnet, you have to bear in mind that it's the talons