Wednesday 25 November 2009

The Riga dump experience

I've put these images up to illustrate what gull watching on Riga dump (Latvia) is like. It is simply magical; what a place! As you can see, photography is rather easy, even for a duffer like me. These pictures were taken by Paul Hackett on our trip to Riga in April 2009 (thanks Paul). See if you can pick out any interesting birds in the above image - there is at least one cachinnans, plus an odd, pale Herring Gull.

4 comments:

Kim said...

Chris, I can't even imagine!!! It would be like going to Disney World for me! ;-). Very interesting indeed.

Chris Gibbins said...

Hi Kim. Yes, I can see your parallel, though I imagine Disney World smells nicer:) Actually it is extremely difficult to get permission to access dumps in the UK, so it is a real treat to go to places such as Riga. I've been to a few in US (e.g. St John's, NF; Brownsville, TX) and they are every bit as good as Riga. It is quite a different experience to watching gulls on a beach or a lake - especially the noise and approachability of the birds when they are feeding. Of course my work colleagues have no end of fun with me, teasing about my holidays spent on rubbish dumps:)

Hope you have time for some birding this coming weekend.

Anonymous said...

LOL Chris, I've sat in the mud, crawled in the tide, walked through herring juice (ya, that smells bad too!) but I've never photographed in a dump! I really see a lot of value in your blog and your photos are top shelf. Thanks for doing what you do. (P.S. Kim brought me over.)

Chris Gibbins said...

Hi Steve. Thanks for posting your comments, and I'm glad you find the blog useful/interesting; Ive had images sitting around on my computer for ages, but now I can do someting useful with them. I've just put some images up from Spain, so I hope you have a chance to look at them.

best regards,

Chris