Sunday 22 May 2011

Farne Island Terns

The week before last I spent a couple of afternoons on Inner Farne being entertained by puffins, terns, guillemots, shags and eider. It was the first time I'd made it across to the Farnes - previous attempts having been stymied by bad weather. But what a fantastic place to be.

The main target of my day was to get shots of the sandwich terns. These graceful birds nest in some numbers on the Farnes and can be seen fishing off the Northumberland coast. Inner Farne is a good place to get up close and personal

Sandwich Tern

Another highlight of the trip were the Arctic terns. Strong winds, good light and the need for the terns to run the gauntlet of scavenging black-headed gulls eager to relieve them of the fish all make for excellent photographic opportunities to capture these lovely birds in flight.

Arctic Tern