Speed and agility

2012.07.08

I thought this juvenile Yellow Billed Kite was particularly handsome and he even obligingly looked straight into my lens!

I set off for my rehearsal near Gloucester with lots of time to spare this morning just in case I got caught up in a traffic jam for the airshow at Fairford. As it happens there was no more traffic than usual so I reached May Hill with oodles of time to spare. Of course I had a strategy for just such an eventuality and headed straight to the International Centre for Birds of Prey, armed with my camera and a long lens! I arrived just in time for the first flying display of the day and, even better, the sun had come out from behind the clouds. I’ve not had much luck with capturing falcons in flight in the past (I have a better hit rate with the Centre’s eagles and owls who move a little slower) so I was thrilled when I caught one frame of the Saker Falcon flying towards my lens and in focus too! The more I watch these beautiful birds the more I marvel at the miracle of flight – falcons like this one make it look absolutely effortless while being so astonishingly fast and agile. The folks at the Fairford Airshow still have a lot to learn from our feathered friends!

I've posted both these photos and my post for 9th July today so if you've missed my other post you can see it here.