former-extog's photostream

For some reason these 4 (one just out of shot) did not take flight with the rest of the flock. I stumbled on them while crossing the rocks after the rest had gone. I managed a couple of shots before they rumbled me but didn't have a chance to get lower down for a better angle.

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Managed to get within about 25m of this flock of 250+ birds by circling round and keeping low. I was lying across some very uneven, barnacle encrusted rocks at an angle of 45 degrees tring to use my elbows as a tripod. Not very comfortable and unfortunately not an easy position to recover. They took flight as I was trying to stand up before retreating.

I don't think I worried them too much as they circled a few times, coming quite close to me on one occasion, before settling again on some nearby rocks.

That was pretty amazing but not as good as later. I had made my way over and down the other side of the headland you can see in the background (Sker Point) and was trying to get close to some Turnstones when I heard a rushing sound behind me and before I could turn what seemed to be the whole flock flew over and around me, some birds seeming to be as close as a couple of metres! It was all over in a second or two as I watched them disappearing into the distance. Magic!

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