Whitby, 23-25 April 2009

On 23rd April, we went to Whitby for the Whitby Gothic Weekend as we do twice a year. While my other half is busy making the live music side of the festival run smoothly, I spend some of that time wandering round, having a look at rocks and birds. I have had the photos ready for this post for a very long time, but I just haven't got round to writing the words around them. A mixture of catching the 'Whitby lurgy' initially and catching up afterwards and being otherwise busy (partially by the birds around here as their chicks hatch then fledge). It won't be as developed as it may have been, but I'd better bite the bullet and get it over and done with, so I can get on with more recent stuff!
Until last October, I had never been to the other side of that jetty at the back of this photo, having only been on the beach on the North side. Very different, as one side is a sandy beach, the other a shale beach with lots of fossils and mussel beds.


One of the things I like about Whitby is how close, compared to home, you can get to the gulls in town (pretty much exclusively Herring Gulls as far as I could tell). I love how this photo of a gull looking up at me turned up:


I can indulge in taking close up portraits like this one (I used this not quie as close one as my screen backdrop for a long time):


The other thing I like about Whitby are the turnstones, not that I was expecting any this time. This one was picking up crumbs and chips by the bandstand:


I went to the other side of the jetty on the Saturday morning. It was packed with Herring Gulls, a few of which I noticed fishing starfish like this one:


There were also a fair few Oystercatchers, a group of Kittiwakes, either nicely packed on the beach or noisily circling in front of the cliff, 3 Bar-tailed Godwits. I also spotted a Hermit Crab, an ammonite and a group of kids on a fossil hunt (they sort of put a stop to mine, that and the fact that the cliff seemed to be crumbling where I'd been shortly after I'd been there).


Plenty more photos to be seen here.
And if you are that way inclined, photos of the bands playing at the festival are there.