Bempton seabirds - trying to make things a little different

I have been to Bempton a few times already this year and typically take the same old pictures so I have consciously been trying to think a little differently whether it be light or subject size or backdrop or anything slightly different - this blog is a selection of images that I have taken between February and May of the usual suspects - herewith the Gannets on Staple Newk in fairly flat light not blowing out the white highlights which always happens on sunny days

Back in february there were masses of auks on the sea with the first Gannets drifting around and Fulmars back on the cliffs - capturing the spectacle of all the auks is tricky in a flat image so I zoomed out and tried to show some of the patterns created by the flocks of birds on the water.

an auk flock panic take off

zooming in a bit to a flock of mainly Razorbills

A Gannet in a cave - slightly different

a bit of bill conflict with a dark background

In February there is a lot less light but it is subtle and brings out the details in the white plumage

The first Guillemots packing the ledges with the empty Kittiwake nests as they had not returned in February

On this latest visit I took a series of images of birds over the crashing waves at the foot of the cliffs as there was a notably chilly onshore breeze for May - sometimes you have to look harder to see the subject and sometimes there are additional birds like the Kittiwake below the Gannet

This turned out to be my favourite result - I was tracking the Kittiwake but then the Guillemot flew through and kjust caught the light with a good wing position - the juxtaposition fo the two birds and the power of the breaking waves makes it probably my best shot of the year but all opinions are personal!

Here I have cropped another shot from the same sequence to show just the Guillemot, bigger in frame and the waves which look rather like a waterfall

Here the sea is key and the Kittiwake almost invisible in need of looking for

a less dramatic sea and more obvious Kittiwake

Does converting to Black and White make it more dramatic?

A Herring Gull with even more foam and froth

A Puffin near the cliff top in a mud hole

A Razorbill coming in to land - pretty standard shot with modern AF systems

This Razorbill just caught the low sun while the sea was in shade and hence dark - I take loads of Razorbill images but delete most of them!

Not really a fan of head shots but its the eye that captures the imagination

Arguably a Kittiwakes best bit is its orange gape so you need a calling bird to show it off - I preferred this one as it includes some fo the cliff and the sea as backdrops

The value of zoom lenses - taken with the Canon RF 100-500 lens at 100mm and the Canon R6II - the architecture ie the stack and the distribution of the Gannet nests just draws my eye all the time - I love this image

Razorbill catching the low light - would you remove that insect? I thought it added interest

Full sun but a bit of activity interest - Razorbill display

A pair of Kittiwakes displaying but its the quizical look of the onlooker that adds interest

the contrast of two species caught by chance