Just a couple of weeks ago, we were treated to the most stunning display of the #Aurora #Borealis in the UK for many, many years (apparently). I went to bed instead, not realising what I was going to miss.
So, the next day, I travelled to #Cemlyn #Bay in north west #Anglesey, to take photographs of the colony of mixed #terns which reside there. There is a large brackish #lagoon behind a huge, curved shingle bank, with a couple of #islands producing a safe roosting place. The bay is an #SSSI, in an area of outstanding #natural #beauty. A couple of years ago, there were several thousand present during the day, but with the recent bird flu, there has been a dramatic fall off in numbers with about 2000 present: still a large number, but nothing like what it was. Unfortunately, due to there being a lot of dead chicks with the flu, the numbers are expected to fall again in a couple of years, when they should have been returning from #Africa to breed.
Those terns which were there were very noisy and active, wheeling about and chasing each other if one should return back from the Bay to the lagoon, carrying fish. Small shoaling fish, such as #sand #eels, squid, shrimps, marine worms and insects make up their diet. They will fly across the #shingle from the lagoon to the bay, and return with fish in their beaks. They will also skim across the water, dipping in their beaks for a drink.
I was lucky to have a flat calm day, with mirror-like #reflections in the lagoon enabling some reflections to the travels of the terns. I stayed for about an hour, morning being the best time because of the position of the sun. I've included some images to show what happened, and a couple from a previous trip using the #ICM technique of which I am so fond.
These photographs were taken using my #Canon R5 and 100-400mm zoom lens, at about 1/3200 second shutter speed, f8 approx, varying ISO (around 500) and focal length dependant upon how close the birds were flying.
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