Little Gull

I dropped in to Hornsea Mere to see if I could catch up with the Little Gulls that have been present there recently. When I arrived there was not a Little Gull to be found so I went in to the cafe on the marina for a coffee and then to my surprise on my exit I found 8 birds on the jetty - job done!

MY WEBSITE

At last I have finally managed to build my own website. Do not fear I am definitely not going to stop this blog, as I enjoy doing it and I think it is just another great way of showing my images and keeping an online diary of my events. However I will also have a blog of a difference on my website for you to keep looking through as well as my online gallery.

Very soon I hope to start making my images available for sale and I am at present working behind the scenes to make this happen. When you view my gallery section of the website, you can still have the option of leaving me a comment which you will find below each individual image you look at, so please keep leaving me those comments - good or bad.

Keep checking out this blog for my latest images and make sure you add my NEW website to your favourites and if you like what you see, please feel free to spread the word. You can find my website at:

www.steverace.com

New Kid On The Block

I have just recently joined the team of volunteers at RSPB Bempton Cliffs Reserve. I just volunteer on a Saturday, I have currently done 4 shifts and cannot wait until the next one. Bempton is an amazing reserve with 400ft white cliffs and thousands of seabirds to match.

The reserve is slowly quietening off now with most of the Auks moving back out to sea, however the Gannet colony's are booming with activity and if you are planning on visiting the reserve soon you must go to the view point called "Staple Newk", this is where our biggest Gannet colony is, and when you peer down to take a look you will be amazed - its an awesome sight.

More Peregrines

The young Peregrines are still very active on the cliff, chasing the handful of young Kittiwakes that are still present. One of the adults is giving a helping hand with catching prey, and if you click on the first image above to enlarge it you will see blood on its talons. The two juveniles feeding on the Kittiwake are actually feeding on prey that the adult caught for them then exchanged it to one of the youngsters in mid flight, hence the blood on the talons.

As I was watching all this commotion, I spotted a large raptor flying overhead and to my surprise found it was an Osprey, but just could not get my camera to my eye fast enough before it flew out of few - what a bonus.

Honey Buzzard

Finally at last I managed to get a few record shots of Honey Buzzard in Wykeham Forest. These birds have been very reclusive to my camera. I have had several sightings recently but not in the range of my lens. The above bird was still very distant and I have enlarged the images some to show some definition in the pictures.

Local Mammals

I like to class myself as a wildlife photographer, but to find and photography some of our British mammals can be very difficult indeed. So to photography a Roe Deer and a Hare in the space of a couple of days, you could say I was quite pleased.

Bass Rock - Part 6

Other bird species on the rock include Lesser Black Backed Gulls, Herring Gulls (make sure you bring a hat with you) and a pair of Peregrine Falcons. The Kittiwake images where taken at Dunbar Harbour before the boated departed for Bass Rock, they are nesting on the wall of Dunbar Castle that overlooks the Harbour. If I have wetted your appetite to take a trip over to the Bass Rock then all the information you need is on the Scottish Seabird Centre website - click here, or drop me an email for more information.

Bass Rock - Part 5

There is so much happening on the rock, once again it is quite hard to decide what to capture and what not to capture through the lens. Above is a mixture of images showing how the Gannets spend their day. I hope over the last few posts on my blog, I have given you a good insight into the life of the Gannet.

Bass Rock - Part 4

As you could imagine, when it comes to taking flight shots you are spoilt for choice. The first hour on the rock the weather was grey and dull, but eventually the good old sun showed its face (thank god) and I managed to find some blue sky to capture the birds on.

Bass Rock - Part 3

After spending a good 3 hours on the Bass Rock it is time to get back on the boat and head back to Dunbar Harbour. Just when you think to yourself it can't get better than this, oh boy it does. On the outward journey home 30 minutes is spent "Chumming" which is a process of throwing bait over the side of the boat to entice the Gannets into their spectacular plunge dive.

So its make sure you have your life jackets tightly fastened, get battling for position, finger on the shutter ready, then fire away.  This truly is an amazing sight, Gannets torpedoing everywhere, believe me you have to be fast with your camera to lock on to a diving Gannet.

Bass Rock - Part 2

On approaching Bass Rock the image you perceive is this huge rock structure jutting out of the sea covered head to toe with Gannets. Once you put your feet on to the rock you automatically look up, listen and smell this incredible natural structure, it is truly life changing, an experience to experience.