Something for the weekend...

Eye to eyes.

Farnes 21-22/6

In need of some shots, finally made the effort to go to the Farne Islands in Northumberland on Sunday morning, for two days with John Wright and Kev Du Rose. Nothing really prepares you for the sights, sounds and smells of the Farnes nor the endless photo opportunities. It's fair to say we mainly targeted Puffins for photos, though a few pot shots of other species were taken when the opportunity presented itself. A very small selection of the thousands of photos taken can be found below.

Arctic Terns

One of the most remarkable birds on earth- the tiny chick and chick coming out of the egg in the second picture have (hopefully) got quite a life ahead of them!

Puffins

They might be standard shots- but you still want to get them when you go.

Puffins in flight

Puffin flight photography proved to be rather addictive and I ended up with over a thousand images of these great birds in flight over the two days, and hardly any shots of anything else!

Terek Sandpiper

Last night, having come home from work and had a bite to eat, I casually checked the pager to see a Terek Sand had been found at Gib (presumably the Cleveland bird?) during the afternoon. I nearly didn't bother going as I was rather tired but then after speaking to Jones, I decided I would probably be just as tired the next evening so decided to just go (unfortunately Josh was working). Thankfully it was still present when I arrived at 19.45 and gradually got closer to the hide. Even better there was no elbowing crowd at this lifer, with just a two of us present- if only it was always like that.

Peregrine

Lessons have been learnt for next season about these birds but perhaps it's not over this year yet...

Black-tailed Godwits