AN AMATEUR Scots photographer has captured gorgeous snaps of a bird of prey framed by the moonlight in an Edinburgh park.
Holly Taylor was ambling through Saughton Park in Gorgie, Edinburgh last week when she noticed a female kestrel sitting in a nearby tree.
The 46-year-old was left in awe of the powerful bird of prey and reached for her camera to snap some shots of it, before a pack of crows initially scared it away.
Her luck held though, as the bird landed on another tree and Holly wasted no time in grabbing her chance for a photo with the bird framed perfectly by the white moon behind it.
The gorgeous backdrop made for an impressive end product as Holly was left with a series of astonishing pictures.
One image shows the kestrel having just landed on the branch of the evergreen tree, with its wings flapping, as the moon behind it encircles the bird.
A follow-up image shows the bird having turned in place on the branch, with wings still spread, as a curious magpie watches on from a branch below.
The final photo captures the kestrel resting on the branch, with its wings folded in as it peers down at the landscape below, with the magpie looking on from beneath as the moon frames the kestrel perfectly.
Chuffed with her photos, Holly took to social media last week to share them with the caption: “Shots of my life this morning. Saughton Park again.”
The snaps received over 300 likes and dozens of comments from users left in awe of the pictures of the powerful bird of prey.
One user said: “One of those fleeting, ‘once in a lifetime’ moments nicely captured, thanks for sharing.”
Another added: “Awesome. Beautifully captured…love it and many thanks for sharing.”
A third replied: “Congratulating you from a slightly jealous place. Really lovely.”
Speaking today Holly said: “I walk through there often with my camera; I moved here a couple of years ago and spent a lot of time walking around the water of Leith.
“I kept seeing cool wildlife and thinking, ‘That’s great I want to take a picture of that’ but every time I tried my phone camera was pathetic.
“So, I bought myself a camera a year ago and since then I’ve gotten hooked with it when I’m out.
“Every time I’m not at work I’m out with it trying to look for things.
“It was a super lucky set of circumstances; she landed in a tree, and I realised that if I got close enough and I stood in the right place I was going to get the moon behind her, and she stayed there while I did it.”
