Menu

Skip to content

Home
About
Photos
Illustration
Blog

A. Shuttleworth Photography

Photography | Illustration | Writing

Home

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Instagram

FULMAR. Another week, another #SeabirdSaturday! Introducing the Northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) a seabird that has a lot more to it than meets the eye. For starters, despite looking like a gull fulmars are actually related to albatrosses, something that becomes apparent if you see them effortlessly soar through the air.

PUFFINS. Writing this post during half time of the Euros England v Ukraine game to celebrate another #SeabirdSaturday. This one is #worldseabirdday too so let's celebrate with the oh-so-popular Puffin. These guys are a bit more elusive at Bempton Cliffs (where these photos were taken), being much more common on remote uninhabited islands off the coast of Scotland and Wales (with an albino puffin recently spotted on Handa island, Scotland!)

T W E N T Y S I X.

GUILLEMOT. Time for another #SeabirdSaturday (I totally just made that hashtag up but let's go with it). Meet the Common Guillemot or Common Murre (Uria aalge). Like Puffins and Razorbills, these guys are also from the 'auk' family of birds, but they stand out from the crowd with their long pointed bills which they use to knab a single fish from the sea and carry it back to their chick. They also like to use their bills to push intruders off their nesting ledges, so these seabirds are very much ones for personal space!

🌊 RAZORBILL. Now to properly introduce one of the seabirds I'm gonna spend the next two months writing about for my masters project: the Razorbill (Alca torda). These guys are members of the Auk (Alcidae) family just like puffins, although sadly they don't get nearly as much attention.

BARN OWL. Barn owl by the sea anyone? One of the big upsides to where we're doing fieldwork for our masters project is that it's home to a resident Barn Owl, who for some reason didn't get the memo sent to all other owls and frequently appears during daylight hours.

LOOKING DOWN. Ok granted, I did the one thing you're not meant to do while standing at the top of a 100m cliff sticking out into the North sea. But I've been standing on that cliff (which is luckily surrounded by a fence and covered in decking) doing fieldwork for 6 hours a day over the last 3 weeks, so that is apparently the timeline in which vertigo disappears and you can just appreciate the aesthetics of sunlit water dotted by seabirds.

ORCHID. Alright let's change things up from seabirds for a sec. Here is what seems to be a Northern marsh orchid (Dactylorhiza purpurella - there are a lot of marsh orchids guys...) making the grassy cliffs of Flamborough Head look hella colourful.

CLIFF LIFE. Yes. Yes I would like some emo-looking seabirds with my wildflower meadow. Thanks for asking!

Facebook photography

Facebook photography

More Photos

Macaque Family, Batu Caves, KL

Malay Bearded Pig in the Maliau Basin

Wildlife Photography

The Shrine below, Batu Caves, KL

Glacial Mirror, Czarny Staw pod Rysami, Poland

Blog posts

Skalnate Pleso, Slovakia

Hala Gąsienicowa, High Tatras, Poland

Colobus Monkey holding in its baby, Kiambethu tea farm, Kenya

Blog at WordPress.com.

Loading Comments...

Write a Comment...

Email (Required)

Name (Required)

Website