The Great Saltee, Saturday 31 May - Trip Report

Carrigman

I went across to the Great Saltee Island off Kilmore Quay today. Visibility wasn't great due to the persistent fog which enveloped the island for the duration (10am to 3pm). Nevertheless there were snatches of fine sunshine which made for a very pleasant day. Bird wise there was the usual collection of Gannets, Razorbills, Kittiwakes, Shags etc but, disappointingly, very few Puffins.

The big Black Backed Gulls are very aggressive. They obviously try to deter intruders away from their nests and so they will fly at people at great speed. One of them swooped at me and grazed my head. At the same time he deposited, with amazing accuracy, a steaming pile of, er, guano on my hair and shirt. Impressive and not a little frightening. It was like a scene out of Hitchcock's "The Birds"!.

This is one of those guys. Other photos from the day's trip can be seen on my flickr site.

quilmore

great picture!
what lens did you use? it feels heavy and expensive

EDIT: I can see, not that heavy for a 400mm

Dodgykeeper

Thats a great capture, As are the rest on your fickr!

Valentia

Great shot John. I'd advise anyone to have a look at the shots on Flickr. Some wonderful photos!

AnimalRights

Looked at the rest of the pictures on the site, fantastic!
The thing that surprised me is how he got such great shots of the birds flying with that Lens 400mm f/5.6. I assumed you needed a faster lens for something like a flying bird etc Or is it just the calibre of skill he has?

MartMax

great stuff John! i actually like those ones on your flickr, if u don't mind me linking here...

http://flickr.com/photos/johnfinn/2538916759/
http://flickr.com/photos/johnfinn/2539739522/

Cabaal

lovely shots, sounds abit scary with the birds dive bombing....would a hat stuck tight on your head not make you feel abit safer...and cover you from the bombings?

oshead

I had a look at the full set on flickr and I have to say they are truly wonderful. Makes me want to go and buy a supertele lense.

Dave OS

Had a look at the shots on Flickr,fantastic stuff! I must get out to the Skelligs soon before the summer's over.

bovril

Fantastic shots John. I was out there myself yesterday. I could have done with more reach though. Even with the 2x on my 70-200 I was straining to get some of the birds. I did see two puffins and got a shot of one but I don't think it's that good. Haven't processed any yet will try do some tonight.

The quality of the 400mm is stunning.

I'd recommend the day trip to anyone. It's a great day out and the birds are spectacular (except the swooping sea gulls as John said).

thedarkroom

I went to the flickr site to view the Saltee photos. 19 pages later I'm still browsing the great selection of work, it's excellent. I had to stop, not because I was getting depressed (it didn't help) but because I have to get some work done to justify a wage. I'll be back later tonight to view the rest of the portfolio. To anyone else who might be interested, have a browse, it's inspirational.

JMcL

Great set there John. Those gulls are pretty wicked alright, I had a similar experience last year when I was out, and I wasn't even particularly close to their nests. I beat a retreat

Paulw

Anyone read the report in this evening's Evening Herald, about the woman dived on by gulls on Ireland's Eye, ending up with cuts and bruises. She had to be taken to hospital for checks.

Something to be aware of.

Ricky91t

Wow excellent photo's serious dof on the 400mm
Lovely shots on flickr to just browsing through them

YogiBear

Brilliant!