Puffin Time!!

So for my final Northumberland blog of 2014......puffins!  Lots and lots and lots of them.  I probably had around 1000 left after I'd binned the complete dross - all those out-of-focus ones, ones missing the beak or half a wing etc etc.  These are the pick of the pick.

The day with Sarah started very dull.  The light was flat and the pics were correspondingly awful.  But it improved significantly as the day went on.  And so did the shots.  Particularly got some lovely portraits today.

It cracks me up the way they walk for miles

Don't they realise what wings are there for?!

Bless!

Training for the corps de ballet perhaps?

Puffin in sea campion (sounds like a dinner idea....)

Yep, this was literally a beak to lens encounter

Next was the day with Ma.  Similar weather pattern there too - started dull and improved as we got to the afternoon.  The shots weren't as good this trip.  Not that this stopped me taking hundreds of course.

Everyone's doing it!

I thought he was coming right at me - missed the next shot because I ducked!

Wish I knew what they were laughing at!

Talk about raising your eyes to heaven - compare with the previous

A bit pathetic really

Still lining the burrow

Time to go.....

And finally with Mol.  I was assured there were plenty of pufflings about by now, but to my great disappointment I still didn't manage to spot any.  We were blessed with far more sun for our Island day, but due to wind over the previous days they couldn't land us on Staple Island in the morning (in fact, the last landing was the day I was there with Ma!).  So instead we pottered for a couple of hours, buying Mol her new binoculars, then went out for a longer-than-usual boat trip - and saw the dolphins instead!  So we weren't complaining.  And I did get a few decent shots in the afternoon, although the morning island is always the best one for the puffins.

Now that's something I hadn't seen before!!