Cin J
Beautiful photos of the gulls Clare and boy are those White-tail Eagles impressive - hopefully as they settle and spread down south I might get a chance to see one
Keeping everything crossed for you, Caroline. They regularly appear in my home county of Suffolk in winter, amid much excitement!
Our herring gulls are red listed birds. Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.
More great pictures- thank you, Clare. Gulls are indeed some of the most graceful fliers. Perhaps in your next life, you will return as one, soaring high!
Lindybird said:Gulls are indeed some of the most graceful fliers. Perhaps in your next life, you will return as one, soaring high!
I could think of a worse bird ....... though albatrosses are longer-lived. I've yet to photograph one of those, sadly.
Our herring gulls are red listed birds. Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.
Clare your photos are so sharp I would be over the moon with photos as good as yours well done you.
Thanks for the gorgeous photos, Clare! Those Eagles are truly impressive and the Gulls are glorious, too--soooo graceful. Let me guess--you're going back to Mull next year, too?!
As for anyone living significantly farther south like Caroline, etc., there are now White-tailed Eagles on the Isle of Wight thanks to Roy Dennis and his team and there will be more to come in their translocation project. The group called Birds of Poole Harbour run boat trips around the harbour and we were thrilled to see an Eagle on our boat trip in August this year--unfortunately it was not as clear a view as you and Limpy had, Clare, but still wonderful to see, especially as I had not been expecting to see one. It even graced us with a short flight from one tree to another along the edge of the harbour when we had been told that like cats (and most birds of prey!) they tend to remain in one place for much of the day. Why go wasting energy flying about when you really only need to do that in order to get lunch?!
As for anyone living significantly farther south like Caroline, etc., there are now White-tailed Eagles on the Isle of Wight thanks to Roy Dennis and his team and there will be more to come in their translocation project. The group called Birds of Poole Harbour run boat trips around the harbour and we were thrilled to see an Eagle on our boat trip in August this year--unfortunately it was not as clear a view as you and Limpy had, Clare, but still wonderful to see, especially as I had not been expecting to see one. It even graced us with a short flight from one tree to another along the edge of the harbour when we had been told that like cats (and most birds of prey!) they tend to remain in one place for much of the day. Why go wasting energy flying about when you really only need to do that in order to get lunch?!
Kind regards, Ann
Beautiful photos Clare, magnificent birds... and the eagles ain't bad either!!
Further to Ann's comment, some of the Isle of Wight reintroduced birds are seen so often around Poole Harbour and Arne that the Dorset Birds website now no longer has them in bold type as a rarity! I've still yet to see one though :o(
Thanks for sharing
Further to Ann's comment, some of the Isle of Wight reintroduced birds are seen so often around Poole Harbour and Arne that the Dorset Birds website now no longer has them in bold type as a rarity! I've still yet to see one though :o(
Thanks for sharing
OK ....... I imagine you'd all like to see everything else we photographed from the boat? Here we go:
We'd just left harbour when we spotted these greylag geese.
On seeing these I innocently asked what they were - on being told they were black guillemots, the camera got carried away a bit! I'd never seen these before and I wish they'd been a bit closer.
A shag flies past.
Coming in to splashdown!
An adult with a youngster.
Some common seals on the rocks.
Grumpy gives me a look!
A couple of young shag, with a lone cormorant
There's always one exhibitionist!
Finishing with some eider.
Phew! I think that's everything. Hope you like them!
Our herring gulls are red listed birds. Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.
It has been an interesting boat trip for you. It's nice to see the Black Guillemots not a bird we see down here. I seem to remember that they nested in the sea wall near Oban harbour and we would spot them from the Mull ferry. I'm not sure if we will get that far North again as it is quite a long journey and Chris is our only driver but photos like yours do a great job of reviving ols memories
Pete
Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can