Post by Ann on Jul 4, 2009 23:07:33 GMT
My friend Joan is staying with me at the moment. Today the weather was perfect for a trip to the Farne Islands, now a National Trust sanctuary. I haven't been on one of the boat trips out to the islands for years and in the past, I haven't had a digital camera with a zoom lens either.
On the way out, we went past a colony of seals, some of whom seemed just as curious about us as we were about them.
The kittiwakes and shags build their nests in crevices on the cliffs. It looks very precarious. The first shot is 2 shags each tending to a baby.
The kittiwake baby in the first pic doesn't look too happy with life!
We also saw a single razorbill. The birds behind the razorbill are guillemots.
We spent an hour on one of the islands and were warned to wear hats as the Arctic terns were feeding their babies and liable to dive bomb passers by. They don't have nests and the babies just run around on the ground. I got nipped half a dozen times, although little penetrated through my sunhat.
These babies were only 2 or 3 days old I was told by one of the wardens.
A few yards away, Mum, Dad and 3 babies were pottering around. Apparently for a pair to have 3 babies is quite unusual.
They didn't seem at all frightened of the humans.
These 2 babies, despite their round bodies, seem convinced they're close to starvation.
Luckily there were plenty of fish in the sea.
I spent quite a bit of time trying to get a decent pic of an Arctic tern in midair with a fish. This was probably the best of them.
Another midair shot, but minus fish.
My favourites were the puffins. They were much more timid than the Arctic terns, but one co-operated for me.
I'm not sure what caught their attention here, but it gave me a great shot of a lot of beaks!
This pair look more like models than the real thing.
On the way out, we went past a colony of seals, some of whom seemed just as curious about us as we were about them.
The kittiwakes and shags build their nests in crevices on the cliffs. It looks very precarious. The first shot is 2 shags each tending to a baby.
The kittiwake baby in the first pic doesn't look too happy with life!
We also saw a single razorbill. The birds behind the razorbill are guillemots.
We spent an hour on one of the islands and were warned to wear hats as the Arctic terns were feeding their babies and liable to dive bomb passers by. They don't have nests and the babies just run around on the ground. I got nipped half a dozen times, although little penetrated through my sunhat.
These babies were only 2 or 3 days old I was told by one of the wardens.
A few yards away, Mum, Dad and 3 babies were pottering around. Apparently for a pair to have 3 babies is quite unusual.
They didn't seem at all frightened of the humans.
These 2 babies, despite their round bodies, seem convinced they're close to starvation.
Luckily there were plenty of fish in the sea.
I spent quite a bit of time trying to get a decent pic of an Arctic tern in midair with a fish. This was probably the best of them.
Another midair shot, but minus fish.
My favourites were the puffins. They were much more timid than the Arctic terns, but one co-operated for me.
I'm not sure what caught their attention here, but it gave me a great shot of a lot of beaks!
This pair look more like models than the real thing.
I've been on a couple of boat trips around them later on in the season and saw hundreds of Grey Seals but I've yet to be there in the full breeding season....perhaps 2010 wil be the year I finally DO it! 