Isle of May

Today I at last managed to redeem a gift token that had been given to me over eighteen months ago. It was for a trip by the North Berwick Seabird Centre to the Isle of May which is famous for its puffin population. However, no sooner had I disembarked from the catamaran when I put too much weight on my  left leg which I had injured three weeks ago and sprained yet again. I was eventually able to hobble up to the information centre which overlooks the harbour but had to spend the rest of my visit resting my leg there. I was OK to stand for short periods so I was able to do some photography and tried to tackle my most elusive challenge - that of capturing artic terns in flight. My success rate was dismal but I did manage to come away with  a few reasonable shots. Fortunately there were terns nesting just below the information centre and I was pleased to capture a shot of mother and chick and even of her defending against other marauding terns. Artic terns are incredibly fierce in defending their territory and inevitably I took several dives and pecks to the head but was fortunate to be wearing a thick enough cap not too suffer too badly. Given my limited success rate, I suspect had been more mobile I would have given up on this particular challenge and not come away with any decent shots so here's looking on the bright side !