I spent last weekend photographing sea birds with a buddy. On the Saturday we went to Ireland's Eye in the north Dublin Bay. After a short boat ride over we climbed the rocks and made our way to the sea facing side of the island. Sure enough, on the cliffs we found plenty of Auks: Razorbills, Guillemots and Puffins. Unfortunatly they were a little out of reach.

On the way up we passed plenty of Herring Gulls and Greater Black Backed Gulls. These are BIG birds, with around a 5 foot wingspan and are noted for their aggressive behaviour.

We wanted to try photograph Northern Gannets so we started hiking over to the side of the island where they have a colony. We found ourselves dodging gull colonies to avoid the inevitable consequences. The trail we were following ended and we were beating our way through deep weeds and ferns. I heard some calling above my head, way up. Two Peregrine Falcons were circling overhead, aggravated by the large flying gulls. This was awesome; I'd never seen a pair of Peregrines before, only singles chasing prey. We got closer to the Gannet colony and soon saw there was no opportunity for a photo. Then the gulls start to attack. They were calling out angrily and swooping close to us.

We decided to make our way out of their but it was too late. I figured the Peregrines had kept the air clear above us but we'd strayed from their cover. We needed to get back. I felt a reflexive need to duck and then I felt a heavy impact on the top of my head. A Great Black Backed Gull (the largest gull we have in Ireland) has hit me. I was bleeding from two cuts on my head. That was one heavy hit ... and I was thinking what it would have been like had I not ducked at the last second! I lifted my bag over my head and we started making our way to underneath the Peregrines. The swooping soon stopped.

We decided to head for the beach facing the mainland to see what was there. I led the way, beating down 4 foot tall weeds to make a new path. We eventually got there where we had lunch and watched some Oystercatchers, a plover and some ducks flying around.

It was a disappointing trip. The weather turned grey on us so the light was rubbish. The auks were out of reach. I got thumped by a large bird and was bleeding. But we did see soem Peregrine Falcons.