Sunday 28 June 2009

Skomer (Part I): Puffin Portraits

Skomer was all that I had been led to believe (and more). It was busier than I had been expecting. On Tuesday I was too late to get a ticket for the ferry, so I went extra-early the next morning. It worked out well, because the light was much better and their was a stronger breeze too so it was cooler.

Puffins are amazing. After my previous encounter with puffins at Bempton it was wonderful to see so many in one place. For the first hour I just stood on top of the cliffs and took portrait shots. This is one of my favourites. The sea was a beautiful azure providing the perfect backdrop.



Most of the photographers present seemed intent on getting a shot of a puffin with a beak-full of sand-eels. It wasn't what I had set out to achieve - I was more after flight shots (of which more later!) - but having seen them coming with mouthfuls of fish it was hard to resist joining in! The combination of colours and textures is quite intense. This particular bird seems to have done very well; I count no less than eight eels in its mouth.

2 comments:

  1. Hi,
    Wow these are really cute and perfect shots! I'd like o get them like this, but it s gonna be hard this year, they are still not breeding!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Chris.

    Is that late for Iceland? Any ideas why they're not breeding?

    ReplyDelete

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