Sandwich Tern gets his come uppance!

[PeterD]

Thought I would display a group of shots which might interest you.

I was walking the dog along the front at Langstone harbour when I noticed what I thought were black headed gulls diving straight into the sea from a height of about 20ft. Closer inspection showed that these were Sandwich Tern. I had never seen them before so I was thrilled to see them and their activity.

The following shot was taken to ID the birds:



I then was interested in seeing if the birds had actually caught anything. I had noticed lumps in their beaks when viewing them by eye.



You can clearly see the fish in the bird's beak.

I did not have much time but thought a diving shot would be great. I missed this but the following image was a chance shot.



You can see where the bird emerged from the sea in the foreground. Before the Tern had a chance to fly off, a large fish broke the surface and caught the Tern in the tail feathers, almost spilling it back into the sea.

I think the Tern had spotted this shoal some time earlier and had followed them to the point where I saw them

Hope you enjoy the sequence as much as I did when processing the results.

PeterD

[Bub-les]

Well spotted
lovely photos
Barbara

[Ukwildlifeo]

Ah good old langstone harbour. I used to see terns fishing along the seafront in portsmouth, although I think they were common terns

Nice photos

[PeterD]

Originally Posted by Bub-les

Well spotted
lovely photos
Barbara

Originally Posted by Ukwildlifeo

Ah good old langstone harbour. I used to see terns fishing along the seafront in portsmouth, although I think they were common terns

Nice photos

Thank you

PeterD

[nightshade]

Really good photos, I see these along Slapton beach,small groups wheeling and diving I just sit and watch camera still in its case

[PeterD]

Thanks for that. I love to take photos of action as these add a dimension to bird photography. The shame is that within a Gallery, the story is missed.

PeterD