Britain gallery: Dance class

I'd never photographed birds before, but took the tourist boat around the Farne Islands in

Northumberland with lots of photographer's who evidently had, most of them being

equipped with 600mm or 1000mm lenses on their Nikons. I felt my 70-200mm was going

to be entirely inadequate when we stepped onto the one island that you're allowed to visit

off the boat. But it turned out that I'd got it about right, as the birds were so close, and

the path across the nesting grounds so prescribed that I probably had fewer problems

framing these shots than did the 1000-millers. The arctic terns attack you, convinced

you're about to steal their babies, and the puffins, well, the puffins just make you laugh

they're so ungainly and comical. They all seem to be thriving here, along with guillemots,

cormorants and others, but I understand the colonies are now much reduced compared

with previous years: warming waters have pushed the food stocks further north.

I'd never photographed birds before, but took the tourist boat around the Farne Islands in

Northumberland with lots of photographer's who evidently had, most of them being equipped

with 600mm or 1000mm lenses on their Nikons. I felt my 70-200mm was going to be entirely

inadequate when we stepped onto the one island that you're allowed to visit off the boat. But it

turned out that I'd got it about right, as the birds were so close, and the path across the nesting

grounds so prescribed that I probably had fewer problems framing these shots than did the

1000-millers. The arctic terns attack you, convinced you're about to steal their babies, and the

puffins, well, the puffins just make you laugh they're so ungainly and comical. They all seem to

be thriving here, along with guillemots, cormorants and others, but I understand the colonies are

now much reduced compared with previous years: warming waters have pushed the food

stocks further north.

Terns and puffins