Capturing birds in flight is a never-ending project. We all associate birds with flight, but ‘freezing’ or ‘portraitting’ a movement as spectacular as flight has always felt awkward to me. Over the years, I’ve collected a range of different flight shots that show more space and movement.

Flight

Pallid swift
Black guillemot
European nightjar
Spotted nutcracker
Alpine chough
Common swift
European house martin
Common eider
European honey buzzard
Pallid swift
Little gull
Black-tailed godwit
Red phalarope
Northern gannet
Northern raven

About the encounter

There was no other way to get a photo of this European nightjar than to go with a slow shutter and accept the noise. This unique bird only becomes active once the sun has set, when it emerges from its roosting place. The wings of the male have bright, reflecting white patches which, in tandem with their croaking calls, make their locations known to females. This female responded to the wing-slaps of a nearby male and circled us for a while. I dialed in a slow shutter speed of 1/8th of a second, managing this ghostly in-flight appearance.