It's been a long time since I was at the Ythan Estuary and I got lucky with the timing on Thursday as I found the Little Terns actively feeding for most of the time I was there. They live up to their name and can be difficult to photograph and changing conditions during my visit didn't help. However, I am happy with the photos below and might return as Olive foolishly said she wanted to go up there! She doesn't realise how long it takes, with long pauses between these scarce birds passing by, and how many photos I need to take to get the pose I want!
A panorama made up of many photos of the hauled out Grey Seals, click here left click in Flickr zooms twice and moving the mouse sideways lets you view left to right
Little Tern, photos of a bird hunting along the shore upstream of the Lifeboat Shed on an incoming tide
Another Tern but near to the low tide mark in windy conditions
A bit grainy under cloud cover which occurred from time to time
It's not a big wave you see here, just a tiny tern
The last Little Tern photo
Moving on, now a number of Sandwich Terns fishing further from the shoreline
This tern is ringed and looks like white ENF. I'll send it to the ringers tonight
Occasionally they cut off the corner and fly over the beach on their way south to feed
This was a test photo of this Black-headed Gull to confirm I had decent settings that worked
Grey Seal, it was impossible to count the numbers on the north bank but 1500 wouldn't be a surprise to me
Back home, I'm keeping an eye on this Chaffinch which doesn't seem to to well, it's crop is so full that it's got food showing in its beak. It can fly Ok and shows no outward signs of Trichomonosis yet! (Trichomonosis is the name given to a disease caused by the protozoan parasite Trichomonas gallinae. It has been recorded in a number of garden bird species and is widely acknowledged to be the causal factor in the rapid decline of the British Greenfinch population that was first noted in late summer 2006. The disease is also known as ‘canker’ when seen in pigeons and doves, and as ‘frounce’ when seen in birds of prey. It has been known as a disease of cage birds for some time).
It's very plump in this photo, let's hope it's just the one who "ate all the pies"
(All feeders cleaned regularly)
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