London tern - Jack Chapman - Wildlife Photographer of the Year2007

2007: 11-14 Years - Runner-up

Jack Chapman Enlarge image London tern

Jack Chapman (United Kingdom)

London tern

'I borrowed my uncle's 400mm lens and took my new SLR camera out. By the River Lee Navigation canal, near my home in London, UK, I found common terns flying in to drink and feed. I caught this one as it passed the reflection of a scarlet canal boat, its wings skimming the surface.' The common tern is a delightful silvery-grey and white bird, distinguished from the similar Arctic tern by the black tip of its red bill. It is the most widespread tern in North America, but also lives in parts of Europe and Asia. It plunges from the air to feed on small fish and, like other terns, breeds in noisy colonies.

Canon EOS 350D + 400mm f5.6 lens; 1/400 sec at f5.6; ISO 100.