After another miserable start to the day I feared the worst as I head into town.  By lunch time I was proven wrong, it turned out to be a beautiful day.  Just the day for lunch in the park.  There were lots of people with the same idea.

It wasn’t just humans that were enjoying lunch.  I spotted this gull pestering this guy.  Begging for food.  It made me chuckle to watch him at work and then I remembered I’d got my camera and this was perfect photo blogging material.

As well as the gulls looking for a few crumbs, there were the usual crafty pigeons trying their luck.

The person reading the book wouldn’t be pestered so this little show off pigeon came towards me.  I quickly fiddled with the dials to get a better close up view.  Working in manual still exhibits panic as I try and frame up the perfect shot.

No need to have worried too much, this bird was going nowhere.  He was here to get his picture taken from every angle.

And wanted to give the cutest pose.  What a show off!

Just around the corner, I found this gull in a hurry.

And these gulls watching something intently.

It was lunch time in the park and someone was out feeding the birds.  To this effect.  It was just like a rubgy maul.  Legs and wings all over the place.

I hardly knew where to point the camera so just let it click away on continuous shoot.

And I captured this bird with his lunchtime treat heading off!

When I pulled back, you get a clear view of the food scrum.  It was a real scrap between the gulls and the pigeons.

These birds just waited patiently to see if there’d be any crumbs left.

There were others making use of the water fountain to take a bath.

Whatever they are up to, I like to be able to get up close with the zoom lens to look them in the eye.

Or maybe their tail.

Or even having a scratch.

Or just hanging out for a paddle

The beauty of a digital camera is you can keep snapping and get so many different perspectives.

But finally you have to make a choice about which is your favourite picture.  But I couldn’t choose although I did pick out this favourite gull.  He was bigger and meant business.    I also loved his knobbly knees!

Without a continuous shooting camera I’m not sure that taking photos of birds and other animals would be as much fun.  I certainly enjoy the ability to get up close so a zoom lens is a must.

The only challenge is fitting both you work, your camera and your lunch in your bag!