Birds!

Anyone fancy counting just how many birds they can see in this photo?




Every white dot you can see in the air or on the island is a bird (the vast majority are gannets).[/img]

Shouldn't this be linked back to the previous thread about Dust in Lenses? According to what someone wrote, a few puffs with a Giotto Rocket blower should get rid of all those little white specks!

You know, I look at this rock every day, most days its grey, misty, small or faint in the haar that hangs over the firth....but now and then in the late afternoon light, along with a low tide it rises high and glistens like the White Cliffs of Dover.

This is a note to myself...must get on a boat and get close.

Cracking shot Niblue.

Finished . . . there's only one . . . species that is, Gannet maybe . . . can't really tell with all that 'noise'

Excellent vista, thanks for sharing it.

164,397. Crikey that took a long time and I had to damn well start again at just past 158,486, as the postman knocked with my new 46mm red filter I had ordered. Surely it would have fit through my letterbox !!!!!

Seriously, a lovely shot and may I ask just whereabouts this place is?

I did once go to the Farne Islands and get some similar images, but mainly remember being attacked by Sandwich Terns nesting by the pathway, one of whom succeeded in taking a small chunk from my left ear. That was when I fully understood why everyone else was wearing large floppy hats.

Philip

Thanks for the comments.

The picture is of the Bass Rock which is in the Firth of Forth a couple of miles from North Berwick. My son and I were staying at a campsite in North Berwick from the weekend and the picture was a grab shot hand-held (DS, Tokina ATX-Pro 80-200 F2.8 & 2x TC) taken from the campsite because the lighting was exactly as Brian described - late afternoon, nice light on the island and great visibility.

In North Berwick the Seabird Centre is well worth a visit. They have remote operated cameras on the island which you can control to zoom into the gannets and other wildlife. There are also cameras on another nearby island (Isle of May) which usually has lots of seals and puffins on it.

Brian mentioned getting on a boat and getting close and that's something I'd also like to do. There are boat trips out there and I think you can also land on the islands as well. Imagine the smell though!

Cheers
Steve