... the best darned shot I ever took. I got this today while strolling along the seafront. Missed it by a cat's whisker. If I had only zoomed out a little. Blast it.........! 



Gulls are awful things & a bit of a pest around here. They're gradually moving away from their natural habitat for various reasons. They can be quite agressive but I love to watch them flying. They put us humans to shame & have been the inspiration for aviators since the beginning of time. They make it look so effortless & really seem to enjoy it.

Our local gulls are smaller & fortunately not so aggressive as in some places. I've seen reports of them swooping down & pinching the food right out of people's hands. This could be quite frightening, like something out of the Hitchcock film "The Birds".

Here's a couple more.



This shows their less attractive side. I didn't realise what this little boy was doing when I took the shot. He's lucky they were more interested in fighting over the scraps of food than him.


PS. The ones with brown plumage are the youngsters.

Great shots Doug 8)
Oh and Craig the best trick is to throw hot chips into the air and let them catch them on the wing, then watch them dive into the sea putting out the fire

Ah yes, garbage geese.  Their main body of water around here is a nice parking lot.

And Woody, they is a dirty, dirty trick!

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Quite right Pip. I almost mentioned that myself. Man has a lot to answer for.

Mind you, the local shi*ehawks are living up to their name & getting their revenge. They've taken to dive-bombing unwary trippers. I'm sure they do it deliberately & are surprisingly good shots. I was lucky not to be a target when taking that first photo. Or maybe he was out of ammo.

PS. I rather like Woody's dad's trick. One of my misguided neighbours puts out food for the pesky things. You shouldn't be putting ideas in my head like that.