At the end of June I signed up for a boat trip with Steve Race and my friends at York Photographic Society. The aim of the trip was to photograph birds off Bempton Cliffs and in particular diving gannets.
I had no idea that gannets had an urgent need to eat really early in the morning so we left the quayside at 7.00am after an hour's drive from York.
However, the trip was well worth the effort. There were so many birds to watch, including my favourite, the puffin. Once we arrived at the cliffs the Captain threw fish into the sea (chumming) to encourage the gannets to dive. Wow. It was incredible as they have the ability to dive up to 50m and have to become so streamlined in order to enter the water at speed.
I am no way a wildlife photographer and whilst I got a few good close ups of the birds my favourite shots are the ones demonstrating the way the gannets all fend for themselves and are completely individualistic. Survival of the fittest!
