A giant barn owl glides just above the surface of a quiet loch, its broad pale wings reaching across the water. A girl in a moss-green coat rides between its shoulders, laughing as her long auburn hair streams behind her. One hand rests against the feathers while the other reaches down to brush the water, leaving a small bright trail of droplets.

The owl has a soft heart-shaped facial disc and layered cream-and-buff plumage. Fine markings break up the warm colour on its back, and the broad wing feathers catch the low light. Its reflection stretches across the rippling loch beneath it, giving the enormous bird a clear place within the landscape.

Morning mist gathers along the banks and below the autumn hills. A ruined stone castle stands on a rocky promontory, small beside the surrounding slopes. The first sunlight passes over a ridge and turns the water gold, while darker rocks fill one corner of the foreground. The scene combines a vast open setting with the close, fleeting detail of fingers meeting the surface.