Homemakers

 

These Black legged Kittiwakes were so busy flying back and forth from the creek where they were collecting nest building materials. What was amazing was the way they landed with precision on the narrow ledges and how they then constructed and secured their nests on the smallest of rocky shelves where very soon they will be raising their families of little Kittiwake chicks.

Gulls in Flight

Sitting on the harbour wall at New Quay I enjoyed watching some of the gulls stretching their wings and taking to the air.

Today's images show a couple of juvenile lesser black backed gulls, the first being a year old and the second I think is two years old as can be deduced from their mottled plumage.

They're awesome flyers using the least possible energy as they loop and soar in search of food. In this particular spot they find rich pickings in the scraps from visitors. 

I live the second shot, particularly the curve of the wing.

In Flight

I thought I would try my hand at photographing birds in flight with my new lens and I knew it would be tricky so decided to start with something large and I figured that seagulls would be a good place to start.  

I have often seen the birds along the prom hovering or making slow passes and it seemed to me that it would be quite straightforward to get some decent shots.

Of course it wasn't straightforward at all and more often than not the birds had shot past before I could focus properly. I can see that I am going to need to practice a lot more however I think these are not bad for a first attempt.

#Seagulls #BirdsInFlight #OnTheSeashore

Seabirds

The pictures today are of some of the birds that regularly visit Hilbre Island.  I wasn't able to get as close as I would have liked and all of the above pictures were taken using a Tamron 70 - 300mm telephoto lens at 300mm.

Pictures 1, 2 and 4 are (I think) of Barnacle Geese, picture 3 are Knot and picture 5 is of Oyster Catchers. My favourite shots are pictures 3 & 4, let me know which you like best in the comments below.