Fast Food

Whizzing past they just looked so graceful as they skimmed the water!

These Arctic terns are famous for their migration - 19,000km each way on their journey. They have rocked up from the Antarctic and are now on their way to the Arctic for their summer hols! This in fact means that they see two summers each year and (I was surprised by this fact) more daylight than any other creature on the planet!! This is their 10th day in this area and I just knew, because the stats. are so incredible, that I had to blip them!

I can't tell you the speeds these Arctic terns were bombing along at! You couldn't use a tripod and it was incredibly difficult to keep them in the frame for any sort of shot! They did rather remind me of drivers at roundabouts where you have a car in the left hand lane, signalling left, you think it's going left .....but OMG.... just at the last minute it decides to cross over and turn right at speed with no warning! That is just what they did to me every time. Their flight skills are so amazing: speedy with diving, twirling and twisting. They would fly, bank round, do an upward stall, twist their heads down in the totally opposite direction, a snatched hover then drop like a stone at the speed of light and skim the surface of the water in order to get the insects and small fish. Incredible and fun to see!! Far more difficult to get an image - 500 shots - so many binned but just this one of the skimming!

My shoulders and arms actually ache with trying to keep up by panning the lens.
They are distinguished from the common tern by the shorter legs and all red bill with the younger ones having a white forehead.

More Arctic terns

I am full of admiration for these little birds who are just dipping in here before the next leg of their journey north obviously enjoying the canteen here in the lake! It is also one for The List too!