Capture The Moment

Tynemouth

A nice day, so I decided to have a wander up the Tyne from North Shields fish quay (hoping – and failing – to find a white-winged gull or two) and up to Tynemouth Priory for the gulls, Fulmars and Jackdaws.

On the way I dropped into the wooded area next to the Collingwood Monument: it was full of warblers – Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers all over, and the off Blackcap singing – but I only managed one “nearly” shot of this Chiffchaff (“nearly” because of the shadow across the bird’s eye):

Then a quick look at the tiny bay just below the pier, where this Kittiwake allowed me a couple of frames before taking off: the head’s a bit hot, but there’s good detail under the wings.

On to the Priory, and – an easy shot, I know – this young Great Black Backed Gull posed for its portrait:

I’d hoped to get some interesting Gull flight shots here: they know they’re onto A Good Thing because of all the visitors who are more than happy to feed the birds chips and whatnot: I didn’t quite get what I was after, but these were in the Ball Park:

Not great (the second one in particular would be better if the head wasn’t in shadow), but it was good fun trying to get onto these birds as they flew in: gulls are generally thought of by bird photographers as making for “easy” flight shots because they’re pretty slow in flight.

Not when there are chips about, they aren’t..!