My tenuous grip on popular culture is an ongoing source of amusement to my friends. But after the Queen got in on the action at the Commonwealth Games even I have heard of photobombing. And, after looking at the results of a recent session trying to get some pictures of large Gannet chicks at our Staple Newk viewpoint, I think our seabirds have too.
What I was trying for – some pictures of the large Gannet chicks showing well from Staple as they moult into their juvenile plumage....
Some of the less successful efforts...
This was going to be a picture of Gannet behavior and a large chick; a flyby Gannet had other ideas
A Gannet and chick picture that ended up as a blurry example of juvenile Kittiwake plumage
Where did that second Gannet come from?
I think I need to book myself on one of Steve Race’s seabird photography workshops at Bempton!
Incidentally, we had our first Gannet chick fledge last week. The famous Staple 'nest 33' pair which have been our earliest breeders for the last few years successfully fledged this year's chick
Mike Babcock – Seabird Research Assistant