Great Black-Backed Gull ~ Dungeness, Kent - 29.03.14

With virtually all adults on route to breeding grounds the birds we drew in were mainly immatures and probably 60% of these were Gbb's ...

Great Black-Backed ~ 1st .W

2nd. Winter

Iceland Gull ~ 1st. W ~ Dungeness, Kent - 23.03.14

A text from Martin saying " Iceland Gull at The Patch "
We were already at Dungeness, near Springfield Bridge ..
When we got there it hadn't been seen but DW relocated it at the far end of the roosting flock ...
It soon came to feed over The Patch, always to distant and in to the sun ..
So only record images ..

Iceland Gull ~ 1st. W

Glaucous Gull ~ 1st. W ~ PtII ~ Dungeness, Kent - 09.03.14

Both Saturday and Sunday were spent trying to gain some images of the Glaucous at Dungeness, this proved to be a little difficult as the gulls are flighty. They take a long time to settle down and when flushed by numpties all with accessories like rods, dogs & girlfriends, then the gulls will not return for ages ...

The light was fantastic on both days early mornings and late afternoons but failed to use it, when it was at its best.

The intricate juvenile plumage markings are wonderful, and you need good light to enhance it ..

With the limited time that the bird gave us, these are still my best images so far of this individual ...

Glaucous Gull

Glaucous Gull ~ 1st. W ~ Dungeness, Kent - 02.03.14

Having only had two distant fly-by's on separate days of this bird, the weather conditions seemed good for the long awaited prolonged views !!
It turns out that Richard had the bird on the ground, tried phoning me, but with no answer and Jono (gull hater/lover) who was going home was still there papping the gull !!  

Well we got the prolonged views both in flight and on the ground ...

But, you knew there was a but ..

The blue skies didn't last

Overcast with side lighting, now needing to over-expose the images to get into the shadows .. 

Dull, flat images and no catchlight

Now that the views and record shots are done, hopefully next time it all comes together for a great session .. 

Kumlien's Gull ~ 1st. W ~ Littlehampton, W. Sussex - 01.03.14

After the morning with the Little Gulls, we moved on for another try at the two white wingers at Littlehampton in West Sussex ..

The last visit see here was a productive one with only dorsal views lacking in the keepers, so today was about trying to gain some ..

The light was better than before and the wind was now more southerly all good but the birds position in the sky whilst doing what you want it to do according to direction of the sun gives unwanted shadows ...

Kumlien's Gull ~ 1st. W

Happy with this one

These are reasonable

This one has a nice pose but the background is awful & a shadow over the top wing ..

Little Gull ~ Ad. W ~ Worthing, West Sussex - 01.03.14

With three Little Gulls showing well on Brooklands Lake in Worthing and the two white wingers nearby it made things simple where to go ...

The two adults were interested in having their photos taken as for the 1st. W it never came close ..

Repeated fly-bys soon ceased and they hawked over the middle of the lake way out of range ..

What started out to be an amazing session soon fizzled out, the birds going camera shy and also struggling with A/F not locking on, I missed a few fly-bys, tracking and just not locking the A/F ...

I tried center point & inner 9 both were lagging behind, later realising the Image Stabilizer was on from last weeks static bird on the water ..

 I don't shoot flight with the IS on, it slows the A/F down, just forgot to turn it back off ...

Anyway it was good while it lasted ..

Little Gull ~ Ad. W