Farne Islands - 3.7.19
Today I'm back on the Farne Isles but this time rather than more shots of terns I'm going to concentrate on some of the other bird species such as Puffins and Guillemots I missed on my previous trip. As we leave the harbour at Seahouses there's really no sign of what's to come nearing the islands just a few Eider Ducks with this years young in tow, but as you near Inner Farne....boom....masses of sea birds....the sights, the sounds, the smell just amazing.
First stop is to take a closer look at the thousands of sea birds on the cliffs on Inner Farne now painted white with months of guano, I have the camera with the 100-400 at the ready but I'm more intent on just watching all the activity a sight that's like no other, everyone should visit a sea bird colony at some point, you won't be disappointed.
Sailing between the islands gives the opportunity of flight shots of the many returning sea birds bills filled with sandels from fishing far out at sea, you can get overwhelmed with the amount of targets and if your not careful find your self just waving the camera about blasting aimlessly, the best tactic is to pick out a single bird at a distance and track it as it travels towards you, then when in range shoot a burst hopefully with some success better than five percent !
First stop is to take a closer look at the thousands of sea birds on the cliffs on Inner Farne now painted white with months of guano, I have the camera with the 100-400 at the ready but I'm more intent on just watching all the activity a sight that's like no other, everyone should visit a sea bird colony at some point, you won't be disappointed.
Sailing between the islands gives the opportunity of flight shots of the many returning sea birds bills filled with sandels from fishing far out at sea, you can get overwhelmed with the amount of targets and if your not careful find your self just waving the camera about blasting aimlessly, the best tactic is to pick out a single bird at a distance and track it as it travels towards you, then when in range shoot a burst hopefully with some success better than five percent !
Bamburgh Castle
Inner Farne
Bridled Guillemot
One of the first shots of the day is of a Guillemot, tracking the bird as it comes towards me it veers off at the last minuet as it nears the boat giving a great angle for the image, it's only when I review the images later noticing it's the scarcer Bridled Guillemot...how lucky is that !
I understand Bridled Guillemots on the Farne Isle's are around ten percent of the guillemot population increasing in numbers the further north you travel.
I understand Bridled Guillemots on the Farne Isle's are around ten percent of the guillemot population increasing in numbers the further north you travel.
BirdGuides.com - 10.07.19
Just found out the above image has been awarded a "Notable Image" in BirdGuides "Image of the Week" photo competition.....link below.
Many thanks to BirdGuides
https://www.birdguides.com/articles/photo-of-the-week/photo-of-the-week-3-9-july/
Atlantic Puffin
On Inner Farne I weave my way through the masses of people embarked from an earlier boat now being bombarded by the Arctic Terns towards the lighthouse, if sea birds are your target and not terns on this island it's always worth doing this first and getting one of the few prime spots as the viewing area isn't particularly large.This is a great location to get flights shots of Puffins as once they fed the young they fly towards you before landing on to the rocks gatherings in social groups before heading back out to sea.
As I'm blasting away I hear voice I recognise from a gent stood next to me, it's the Arthur Morris of https://www.birdsasart.com...(go check his site out) who's leading a group over from the USA, we briefly chat shake hands and get back to work, did I say work ?...well not really.
Work in progress....
Amazing shots.Keep posting! What do animals eat?
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