June 2013

26th. No sign of the little bitterns at Ham Wall in a 90 min evening watch. Saw a garden warbler and 2 marsh harriers.

18th. First trip out with the camera in a while. I left the house at 03.45h to head to Skomer. Conditions were great - calm, warm and hazy sunshine which was ideal for photography. I took only the 100-400mm lens which is ideal for Skomer as the birds are so tame. I avoid using the lens at its maximum focal length as it loses some sharpness there. We saw a peregrine, 2 choughs, wheatears, a harbour porpoise, and 5 grey seals.

Rabbits were abundant.

Close to the landing platform the guillemots and razorbills pose well. Seeing the two species alongside one another shows how black the razorbills are compared with the brown guillemots.

The highlight of a visit to Skomer is of course seeing the puffins.

This bird has lots of ticks at the base of its bill.

The birds are feeding chicks with sand eels now. Normally they rush into their burrows to avoid the attention of marauding gulls, but this bird stayed in the open and posed well.