Isle of May Trip
12th July 2010
In: Location Reviews
I had a cracking trip out to the Isle of May at the weekend. Despite the driech start to the day, the rain held off for most of the trip around the island which was a nice bonus! The place is looking a bit quieter now, I think the guillemots and razorbills have largely left, and the eiders are gone as well, although they are typically only there very early in the season. What was left was a LOT of puffins, black-legged kittiwakes on the cliffs with their hatchlings and herring and black-backed gulls with their chicks on the flats. There were also still a few nesting shags about with their giant fluffball chicks which were lovely to see!
A herring gull hatchling, a shag chick and a classic puffin pose!
Puffins are always a big attraction when you're looking for birds to photograph because of their colours and rather comical look, but the highlight for me was probably watching the herring gull chicks. A lot of the parents weren't too happy about people coming too close to their nests, so I left those well alone, but there were a couple that were quite comfortable and they were great to watch! I sat with one parent and its two chicks for about half an hour watching them call to each other, watching the chicks begging for food and got a lovely short series of shots of one of the chicks flapping and jumping up and down to strengthen its wing muscles for when it is ready to fledge and leave the nest. The kittiwake chicks were lovely as well, and most of them were starting to show their first winter plumage through the fluffy down. Juvenile kittiwakes have a lovely dark band across the backs of their wings which is quite striking and can make for some great black and white shots.
I'll have some shots from the trip going up here this evening I hope, so check back then for updates!
A herring gull hatchling, a shag chick and a classic puffin pose!
Puffins are always a big attraction when you're looking for birds to photograph because of their colours and rather comical look, but the highlight for me was probably watching the herring gull chicks. A lot of the parents weren't too happy about people coming too close to their nests, so I left those well alone, but there were a couple that were quite comfortable and they were great to watch! I sat with one parent and its two chicks for about half an hour watching them call to each other, watching the chicks begging for food and got a lovely short series of shots of one of the chicks flapping and jumping up and down to strengthen its wing muscles for when it is ready to fledge and leave the nest. The kittiwake chicks were lovely as well, and most of them were starting to show their first winter plumage through the fluffy down. Juvenile kittiwakes have a lovely dark band across the backs of their wings which is quite striking and can make for some great black and white shots.
I'll have some shots from the trip going up here this evening I hope, so check back then for updates!