Animals to learn to love #1 – gull over Monaco – Wildlife & travel images by Darren Hector

Animals to learn to love #1 – gull over Monaco

by Darren

If you’ve been following my work for some time, you’ll know that the animals I love best are the ones that humans don’t generally like. There’s nothing I like more than to use my chocolate box style to show you the beauty of a grey squirrel or a magpie and, hopefully, persuade you to reserve a little space in your heart for another of nature’s fabulous creations.

Many of these species are great for photography, and gulls are one of the best. You can’t give your panning autofocus skills a better workout than getting yourself off to the coast to watch some gulls for a day. They can be quite fast, but they’re also quite big so a medium telephoto between 200mm and 300mm will do nicely for everything from portraits of those that perch close-up, to swooping flying images like this one.

Just like when I’m watching starlings, I like to look out for squabbles and daring behaviour as they attempt to steal food from both other gulls and from humans who let their fish and chips go unattended for just a little bit too long. These birds have a nerve, and a character to match. Give them your time and you won’t be disappointed.

Finally, I love that this gull was swooping over the harbour in Monaco. Again it sums up their character. Do what you like, they’ll go where they please and do what they like, and they don’t care if you’re rich or poor. I was in Monaco for just six or seven hours, yet these birds captivated me for a good 45 minutes of that time. I could be anywhere and I’d still make time for them.