Pretty Wren and Some New Herring Gull Chicks

Well we seem to have something resembling summer at the moment, and there is plenty to see in the skies around the South Downs, including a peregrine circling overhead as I arrived at work this morning. That’s not what I’m going post though (too far off for a decent photo). Instead here’s a short sequence of a pretty wren I spotted earlier in the week.

wren
Wren with insects in its beak at Seven Sisters, East Sussex

Wren

Wren

The new arrivals were taken today, just at the edge of the car park at work. It’s an annual event, and the adult herring gulls jealously guard this spot. They breed here every year, and usually there are two or three chicks. I haven’t been able to get an accurate count yet as they are still in that handy nesting box, but it won’t be long before they venture out to the main roof.

Herring gull chicks
Herring gull chicks

The last shot for today is one of my attempts at motion blur, this time of a collared dove (and again taken today).

Collared dove (motion blur)
Collared dove

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens.

Tags: , ,

This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Darko

    9 Jun 2015

    All animals in the world are eating every day. That made me thinking, while some of them are eating insects, it doesn’t surprise me because there are plenty of them. But birds of prey are eating other birds and small rodents. That means that every day so many of them die even though we are not aware of it. I don’t even want to go to other predatory animals, like cougars for instance. It is one thing to see it on TV but completely different when you realize it might be happening now, this very moment. Most of us live so out of that world we are not even aware that in long gone past we, humans, were prays for some predators as well.
    I don’t know why I wrote all of this, that wren reminded me on something I was thinking about the other day 😀

  2. Words

    11 Jun 2015

    Darko, at this time of year it gets very bloody out there. So many young mouths to feed, most of which probably won’t survive. At our pond the gulls are taking the duckling chicks to feed their own young. Somehow it balances out, but my ‘parenting’ award goes to the greylag geese who protect their own young with military precision.

    1. Darko

      13 Jun 2015

      We are going to whale watching tour today so hopefully we will see some orcas hunting. Last time I’ve seen how orcas behave when they have successful hunting – a lot of half breaching and swimming around. But I’ve seen quite a few sea lions and seals hurriedly swimming away from the area, happy to survive the day…

      1. Words

        20 Jun 2015

        Darko, saw some of your photos on Facebook. Looks an amazing trip in every sense.

Comments are closed.

Close Menu