Chanonry Point (day 2)

Better weather on the Black Isle today. The morning was still gloomy and overcast, but thankfully no rain. Plenty of Dolphins too.

This one's a youngster, it stuck pretty close to the adults - I'm assuming one of them was mother.

Another youngster with a parent. This pair came within 20 meters of the shore - oftentimes too close for the 500mm I was using. They're incredibly difficult to photograph at this distance, because spotting, framing, focusing and pressing the shutter all needs to take place in about 1 second, before they disappear back beneath the surface. It a question of persistence and luck really.

Here's what I meant about "too close" - this was taken at 500mm on a D700. If you plan to make a visit, I'd recommend bringing a lens to cover the 400-500mm range for the longer range stuff, but also something like a 300mm (on full frame) or even a 70-200mm (on a crop sensor). Occasionally, the dolphins really do come very close indeed.

Once again, there was plenty of other wildlife to be seen. I'm not sure what this small bird is, but I think it's a Shore Lark (can anyone help me out here?).

And finally my favorite - the expression on his face is just great.

Final day tomorrow, and then back to Gatwick. We have time to visit again before we go, as the tide is due to start coming in about 6 hours before we fly. Fingers crossed for a bit of sun.