The one that (nearly) got away

I’m sitting quietly on the shores of the Menai Straits watching a heron standing still, the silence broken only by the persistent shrieking peeps of oyster catchers. G has taken his mum for a drive, leaving me alone with my camera and I’m more than happy. 

Suddenly, a black backed gull swoops down to the shallow edges of the Straits - I’m thinking greater rather than lesser as he’s quite a size, the largest of the gulls. He plunges down onto the water almost in a convulsing motion, his whole body seeming to struggle. If he’s caught something, it’s clearly fighting back. I grab my camera, trying to capture the action as the struggle continues. I can’t see what it is he’s caught, but it seems to get away - and then he catches it again, eventually flying off with it into the distance. It’s not until I look at what I’ve captured that I see it is a very feisty crab! 

Whilst my main shows the gull victorious, flying off with his victim dangling from his beak, the other shots show how close he was to losing his crustacean lunch. The crab fights back, claws  aiming for the eyes, pinching at the attacker until, in surprised shock, he is released. But freedom is but transitory, and the beak closes yet again. Despite his fight, this crab seems unlikely to see another day.