Gliding By

 Here is one more shot from my recent walk on the beach, this was actually from the path around the marine lake; I had been photographing some sailing boats when this young herring gull flew by.

I have adjusted the white balance slightly to give greater depth to the blue.

I love the glossy surface of the water and the shiny reflection of the gull. I am also really pleased with the detail which you can see if you view the image at 100% (you can see a little glint in the birds' eye and a flash of red on its' beak).

Tomorrow I will share the last selection from the day at the beach (probably several colourful shots) so look out for those.

A Scavenger Am I?

So there I was sat on the harbour wall at New Quay, watching the dolphins in the bay and eating a delicious pastie and soaking up the early afternoon sun when along came this beautiful Herring Gull. Quite clearly it was looking for scraps and its friend not quite so bold hung back a little waiting to see if it was worth getting a little closer.

Although these birds are quite common and known for scavenging food from tourists there is something quite regal about them and I think the first and last of today's pictures show this in the gull's pose. 

They can make a pretty fearsome noise too and as I focused trying to get a nice close up shot this chap started to screech really loudly. The second and third shots were taken seconds apart as the bird was mid screech. I have slightly cropped the second picture so it is possible to clearly see the speckled eye and the detail around the eye and inside its' mouth. I am really pleased with this particular shot and it shows that even something that may seem common and uninteresting is actually quite beautiful.

Don't Call Me Common

I didn't think I would get to post anything today but here I am with just one picture of a very proud looking Herring Gull who was waiting for scraps. I'll be honest he didn't get any from me.

The picture was taken using my smart phone and although it's not a bad shot I did get some better images with my camera, I just haven't connected my phone to the camera to upload it, so you will have to wait for them.

Seabirds and Waders

There's quite a lot to see in today's post with a variety of birds spotted on my walk along the beaches at Runswick Bay and Staithes.

The first shot is of a pair of loved up Fulmar. While I was watching them they engaged in a bit of courtship behaviour unfortunately the shots I got of that were not very clear, given the light and the distance and the fact that I was shooting against a dark background it was quite tricky getting a sharp image. These birds are not gulls but a species of Petrel and they have a distinctive channel on top of their beak. I tried to get some shots of them in flight and they are really skilled fliers, they move so fast so I didn't get the shots I had hoped. I was amazed how they could fly directly at the cliff face at speed and then at the very last moment brake and land safely on the smallest of ledges.

The next three pictures are of Oyster Catchers, three in flight and then others wading in the shallow pools and silt. These seem really gentle birds and they allowed me to get quite close.

The next picture is of a Herring Gull, I think these are quite beautiful birds although they have a bit of a reputation as thugs and thieves.  They're quite fearless around people and are known to steal food from peoples' hands.  This particular bird was patrolling the car park at Staithes looking for handouts, he didn't get anything from me.

The final pictures are my favourite from today, not necessarily because they are great photos but more because they are of a bird I had never seen before, a Turnstone.  These lovely little birds were scavenging among the debris along the shoreline in the harbour at Staithes.  They were quite gregarious and seemed quite at ease with my presence taking pictures. The first of these shots shows the bird living up to its' name.