Unlike gulls, who cruised along the length of the cliffs between St Bees and St Bees head like buccaneers looking for booty on the Spanish main, Kittiwakes seemed to either stick close to their nests near St Bees Head lighthouse or charge in and out of sea looking for food.
Unfortunately, the viewing points we visited did not overlook nesting Kittiwakes.
Now, my bird recognition skills are notoriously bad. Thus, it is with considerable trepidation that I post these photos claiming they are of Kittiwakes.
They glide along effortlessly, but incredibly fast. Therefore, picking them up against a cluttered background was...interesting with my lens fully extended, plus there was so much action going on.
This one came hurtling home with either a tasty, frog looking morsel in its mouth or something for the nest.
A large flock took off from the cliffs, wheeled about, and came back to the cliffs.
A jolly jaunt?
Most of the earlier photos were taken some distance from the main viewing points, meaning we were some distance from the birds. Matters looked up when we reached a viewing point, right on the edge of the cliffs, but with a suitably strong fence.
The Kittiwakes tended be a fair distance from us. Guillemots and Razorbills took up most of the sheer cliff in front of us, but the odd Kittiwake didn't mind mixing.
Fuzzy blobs on cliff face are Common Guillemots.
Occasionally I got lucky, and managed to frame a bird as it did a slow turn quite close to us.
Having got the bird in frame, I let my Canon R7's AI tracking (both animal and eye) keep the bird in focus, while I tried desperately to follow the beast.
No tripods, gimbals or the like, this was handheld, seat of the pants stuff. My arms didn't 'alf ache holding up the heavy camera and lens combo.
Better than my previous effort some years back with a 300mm lens.
90% luck, 5% field craft, 5% camera skills.