Bird photography isn’t something I excel at. No long lenses, no patience. But today, just so I can join in three whole challenges listed below, I offer you seven images. Not seven birds, please note. Just seven images.
My feature photo is of an egret and a heron studiously ignoring one another at our local nature reserve.
And my next is of a herring gull. Doubtless it’s a mug shot of him taken at the police station, as he helps police with their enquiries over the matter of the fish and chips snatched from a blameless pensioner eating his take-away fish dinner on the seafront.

The next two are familiar local residents: a robin posing for a Christmas card: and a house sparrow in reflective mood.


Back to the seaside. To the Farne Islands. Here is a puffin stretching his wings: and an irritated Arctic tern objecting to my possibly disturbing his young.


We’ll end where we (nearly) began: with two birds – cormorants in this case, ignoring one another at another local nature reserve.

For Becky’s Seven for September.
And Leanne and Elke‘s Monochrome Madness #16.
And IJ Khanewala’s Bird of the Week.
So glad you warned me not to count at the start! And lovely to see an Arctic Tern – they have just gone onto the red list in the UK as they are now a threatened bird species 😦
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I know. It’s hard to believe when they still SEEM so abundant when you do get to see a colony.
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PS and the newsletter setting thing has worked – yay!
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Thanks for suggesting it Becky. I didn’t even know it was happening!
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that’s what makes it extra annoying I feel, that the blog owners don’t know.
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👍
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Those are delightful. I’m always too slow to capture anything with wings.
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I know. The WON’T sit still!
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These are wonderful Margaret. I love your commentary on them too. Fantastic.
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I have t do a commentary to distract from the less than wonderful photos 😉
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Well I did count and you could have left the Cormorants out, the you would have 7 birds.
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I know. I wanted those in though. Becky seems to have let me off.
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of course I did – I am a very flexible host 🙂
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There’s not much wrong with your bird photography, Margaret. You should see mine! I can count though… up to 7.
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I can manage 7 too. Not much more though … Thanks!
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And I love the commentary.
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Thanks Jo.
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Beautiful images of these birds. They look great in monochrome.
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Thanks!
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These are all great bird photos. Thanks!!
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And thank you, Darlene.
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Great shots despite your protestations to the contrary. Puffins and arctic terns and even herring gulls are now declining in worrying numbers.
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I know. It’s hard to believe as you stand among them in apparently vast numbers, but unfortunately true.
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Those are good bird photographs in my book… you got me to more attention to the birds when I was rehabilitating from knee surgery one in ‘18! Your commentary though makes the photos. Enjoy the day!
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Thanks Clay. I’m a by-stander as a good friend recovers from knee surgery. It’s hard work, isn’t it? But doing as you’re told in convalescence pays dividends.
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cool! Your robin is different than our robin here in the US.
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I know! prefer ours – of course 😉
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I kinda prefer yours too.
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😊
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Very clever and nicely arranged too! A close up of a puffin is rare well done!
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Thank you! A lucky break!
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These are great bird images, despite your disclaimer! I really like the herring gull shot even though they’re not my favourite birds, and your comment about him made me smile 😀 My other favourite was the puffin – great capture!
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Puffins are great litte characters and I think they rather like posing. Thanks Sarah!
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These are great photos and with such humour. Certainly a grand group of birds 7 squared plus!
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Ah, thanks. I had a bit of fun anyway.
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Love the commentary, and y9ur birds are great in monochrome
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Thanks Sue. Gotta try, haven’t you?
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Cute puffin! The gull looks very proud, and ready to eat anyone’s chips.
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You bet he’d eat your chips. And everyyone would love that puffin, I think.
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Those are great! And presented with humour.
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Thank you!
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For all that you say you don’t like gulls you’ve got a great shot of one there. But my favourite are the cormorants. They look like an old couple after a tiff. “Not speaking to you.” “Not speaking to you either. So there!!” 😁
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That’s exactly what I thought! And with herring gulls – it’s their cold eyes….
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Somewhere in Pratchett he says that birds are all mad and that’s in their eyes, I think.
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Quite an interesting bag this week. I wish you had a coloured photo of the tern. I just saw one in it’s winter dear yesterday, and wouldn’t have minded seeing it in it’s summer finery
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Ah … I’ll see what I can do.
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You captured such endearing moments. I especially loved the egret and heron.
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I know! They’d had a bit of a tiff, hadn’t they?
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You captured these lovely birds very well! And your descriptions are quite funny. Love them 👍
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Ah thanks Teresa.
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You’re too modest. The photos are wonderful. I think that you definitely have some expertise in bird photography.
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Ah thanks. I capitalise on lucky breaks too.
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