Fascinating pictures! Number of photographers seem to have increased quite a bit since I was last there in 2004. Hope you had a good trip!
Posted by Elliott Neep on July 15, 2008 at 5:18 AM
Looks like the Farnes. Went there about 5 years ago with Dave C. Met Rene and a few others there. Looks a lot busier now. Scarilyy busy! Don't think I'll bother going back Thanks for sharing. How was the breeding there this year? Read the reports on the declines in the Scottish colonies.
Yes, it's Inner Farne. It was my first time there so I'm unable to compare with previous years but I understand the number of birds are OK. There were plenty of birds coming in with beakfuls of sand eels so I'm assuming that the food supply is good. Having been to Skomer on a number of occasions and been impressed by the numbers there I was quite amazed at the sheer numbers of puffins coming and going on Inner Farne, far more than Skomer (or it at least appeared so). I think the only number that surprised me more was the photographers themselves. I reckon if Gordon Brown could sell all the top end kit at Seahouses harbour that morning he could afford to drop the tax on fuel altogether!!! From where I took these pictures there were photographers on both sides of me. I reckon about 2 in 3 visitors were toting big glass.
It gets real busy on weekends, i wend on a friday, and bumped into Gary, but it seemed much quieter than what you have there (still like a giant conga though). It makes you realise how many photographers there are out there though!
Just thought I would sign on to make a comment after seeing this.
This I wouldn't class as wildlife photography at all, makes me quite sad really to see this & to see what these birds have to go through when returning to feed their young. Complete madness & I am very surprised that this would be allowed on what I thought was a protected nature reserve.
When someone comments about a captive bred image, can you honestly tell me that this is what you call wildlife photography? I know these birds can come & go at their own leisure but is this the way to go to try & obtain a flight shot.
Sorry for what some would class as a negative comment, personally, this for me is intrusive & disrespectful to wildlife during its breeding season.
I see in the first image that a small group of people can be seen walking away, is this because they got all the shots needed or were these onlookers?
Hello Vincent,
I have to agree with you to a great extent regarding the number of photographers at these well known sites. But as I was also there I could be considered as guilty as everyone else. It was my first visit to the Farnes and I was as surprised at the number of visitors as you are. However, the numbers of visitors are regulated and the Island is only open to the public for a few hours each day so I assume that the organization in charge have calculated any disturbance value. I have to say that the birds themselves did not seem unduly concerned with the number of people at the site and indeed the pictures shown are all of birds going away from the nesting area. With the wind direction, incoming birds bringing food were approaching from the opposite direction and did not cross this line of photographers. In fact I actually saw a couple of puffins pursued by gulls which almost seemed to aim for the line of photographers which threw off the pursuing gull and then the puffin returned to its nest site. Having previously photographed Puffins on Skomer I am used to a larger Island which means that the number of people concentrated in certain spots is less. Another point to bear in mind is that the picture was taken with a telephoto lens and the compression has exagerated the density of the line of photographers, there were plenty of gaps through which the birds could pass (as can be seen by the second image) and people were not permanently at that one point.
I suppose the biggest problem is that many of these seabirds are only photographable for a short period of time each year and as technology has made wildlife / action photography a hell of a lot easier (and cheaper) there are more and more people taking it up. I believe eventually that if numbers of photographers continue to increase then there will have to be stricter controls on photographing wildlife at these popular sites.
Sorry for the long ramble.
Discussion
12 repliesDave
Any NPN'ers recognise themselves??
Good shot of something I have never seen
Regards
Rob
Great fun trying to capture them though
Stephen
This I wouldn't class as wildlife photography at all, makes me quite sad really to see this & to see what these birds have to go through when returning to feed their young. Complete madness & I am very surprised that this would be allowed on what I thought was a protected nature reserve.
When someone comments about a captive bred image, can you honestly tell me that this is what you call wildlife photography? I know these birds can come & go at their own leisure but is this the way to go to try & obtain a flight shot.
Sorry for what some would class as a negative comment, personally, this for me is intrusive & disrespectful to wildlife during its breeding season.
I see in the first image that a small group of people can be seen walking away, is this because they got all the shots needed or were these onlookers?
A sad sight & signing off
I have to agree with you to a great extent regarding the number of photographers at these well known sites. But as I was also there I could be considered as guilty as everyone else. It was my first visit to the Farnes and I was as surprised at the number of visitors as you are. However, the numbers of visitors are regulated and the Island is only open to the public for a few hours each day so I assume that the organization in charge have calculated any disturbance value. I have to say that the birds themselves did not seem unduly concerned with the number of people at the site and indeed the pictures shown are all of birds going away from the nesting area. With the wind direction, incoming birds bringing food were approaching from the opposite direction and did not cross this line of photographers. In fact I actually saw a couple of puffins pursued by gulls which almost seemed to aim for the line of photographers which threw off the pursuing gull and then the puffin returned to its nest site. Having previously photographed Puffins on Skomer I am used to a larger Island which means that the number of people concentrated in certain spots is less. Another point to bear in mind is that the picture was taken with a telephoto lens and the compression has exagerated the density of the line of photographers, there were plenty of gaps through which the birds could pass (as can be seen by the second image) and people were not permanently at that one point.
I suppose the biggest problem is that many of these seabirds are only photographable for a short period of time each year and as technology has made wildlife / action photography a hell of a lot easier (and cheaper) there are more and more people taking it up. I believe eventually that if numbers of photographers continue to increase then there will have to be stricter controls on photographing wildlife at these popular sites.
Sorry for the long ramble.
Robert
Eric