The Birds is Coming!

Earlier this week I re-watched Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 classic "The Birds" and once again found it to be a most unsettling film –strengthened as it was by an experience I had a few days earlier when I was attacked by a very angry raven in Oslo. It was unexpected and –as far as I was concerned- totally unprovoked, though I may unknowlingly have trespassed onto what the raven considered its own personal territory. The attack resembled very closely those in the film, and I was indeed fortunate that it was only one bird that was after me. But some years ago, on an island off the Australian coast, I was similarly attacked by a seagull on an idyllic, deserted beach In the film seagulls are the other large bird doing the damage along with the ravens. So though I am truly a bird-lover (ornithology is one of my other hobbies) I am now a little apprehensive when I notice them ganging up, lest they have it in for me! These gulls however seemed fairly harmless –more curious and cheeky than vindictive– and I was quite pleased to get five of them into one shot in all their flying beauty -without being pecked! Location: Brighton, England