Halfway through the Project 52 challenge and it has been very hard these past few weeks to get any decent shoots in the evenings – the weather this year has been deplorable and this week was no exception. I nearly didn’t bring the camera on this day but I spotted some chicks in the cliff face and their seagull mom feeding them. The location was a nice little cove called Badger Cove (even though i think I tweeted Beaver cove on @shanesphoto – different place all together!).
The nest was about 20 – 25ft above the ground but I put on the 70-300 Canon lens and took a few steps back to get a better angle. I spent about 5 minutes getting shots of the chicks as the mother and father took turns at heading out to sea. I have uploaded 2 shots of the Mom with the chicks feeding below.
As I was walking out of Badger Cove, up the steps, the day was almost ruined by a group of about 10 children, 2 of which took turns at throwing stones and hitting a sliotar towards these very chicks. I spotted this and had to intervene and basically told them off as these birds didn’t deserve to terrorized in such a way. Thankfully my warning was heeded and they vacated the area. Hopefully they did not return and the birds are ok.
Photo Location : Badger Cove, Dunmore East, Co. Waterford, Ireland
Badger Cove, Dunmore East, Co. Waterford, Ireland
Badger Cove, Dunmore East, Co. Waterford, Ireland
Great photos and great capture. I always wanted to capture little birds in their nest but I have never been lucky enough. Even with 300mm you must have come quite close..
Well done!
Thanks Mia, the birds were about 10 metres up (hard to estimate) but I was able to step back to get a better angle and with a high ISO and a high shutter speed it reduced camera shake. All I had to do then was wait for the chicks to come closer to my side of the nest. Camera was on rapid fire mode , shot off 3 at a time and I was able to get about 4 good shots out of the 15 I took.