Tuesday 12 July 2016

The Farne Isles


The Farne Isles

Last week I spent the week in Northumberland with Matt Clarke and David Schenck. Whilst there, we spent two days on the Farne Isles, going on the all day trip which takes you to Staple Island in the morning, and Inner Farne in the afternoon. You get about two hours on each island, so it gives you a reasonable amount of time to photograph the Puffins, Guillemots, Razorbills, Fulmars, Kittywakes and Arctic Terns. All images taken with the Canon 7D Mark II , using either the Canon 100-400 Mark II lens or the 17-40 Wide Angle lens.

Classic shot that everyone does of a Puffin on rock with a beak full of sand eels.
Puffin in flight, coming straight at me
Head shot of Puffin with a full beak of sand eels
Puffin coming in to land
Wing Stretch
Another wing stretch
Kittywake and chick
Kittywake in flight.
Razorbill
Staple Island
Shag
Shag in flight
Shag preening
These two seemed to be displaying to each other
Mating
Feeding young
Fulmar
Fulmar
Fulmars displaying
Guillemot in flight
Bridled Guillemot
Guillemot chick
Herring Gull with Guillemott chick
Arctic Tern
Arctic Tern in flight
Arctic Tern chick.
Arctic Tern chick
Adult Arctic tern and chick sheltering from the rain
Arctic tern in flight
Arctic tern in flight
Arctic Tern in flight - Wide Angle lens as it dive bombs me
The Terns come very close ! Photo courtesy of Matt !
When it rains it is very important that the adults shelter the chicks. On this shot you can see the water droplets on the adults back
When the Puffins come back to feed their young, they are often ambushed by Herring Gulls, Back Headed Gulls and Black Backed Gulls which lie in wait .
Puffin burrows
Adult Puffin sitting on eggs in burrow
Puffin in flight
When you land on Staple Island, the Puffins are sitting there waiting to be photographed !
When you go on Inner Farne, the terns will attack you, so make sure you take a wide brimmed hat to stop them drawing blood with their sharp beaks. Unfortunately, the hat does not stop them dropping `bombs` on you ! Photo courtesy of David