Horrifying moment bloodthirsty seagull swoops down and steals helpless duckling from its unsuspecting mother's side
- Peter Christian captured the battle in Langness, a peninsula near the Isle of Man
- The mother tried to fight off the seagull but the gull won the struggle and flew off
- Peter only realised the fight was over a duckling when he looked at photos later
A ruthless seagull snatched a duckling from its mother, fought her off and flew away with it.
Amateur photographer Peter Christian captured the battle for the baby bird in Langness, a peninsula near the Isle of Man.
The large-winged seagull swooped in on the unsuspecting family, of nine little ones and their mother, and grabbed the duckling with its beak.
Amateur photographer Peter Christian caught photos of a large-winged seagull stealing a helpless duckling from its mother in Langness, a peninsula near the Isle of Man
The duck tried to fight for the seagull and get her duckling back but the hunter won the struggle and flew off with the baby bird
The tried to stop the seagull from getting hold of one of her helpless duckling in the first place
The duckling's mother tried to fight the seagull off and get her baby back but the seagull won the struggle leaving the mother without her duckling.
Peter said: 'This was an entirely natural occurrence that happens in a wild environment.
'After the pictures were taken the gull carried the duckling off along the shoreline into the distance.
'The mother quickly got on with trying to look after her brood.'
She did not give up after the seagull had grabbed the baby bird and chased after the predator
At one point she got close enough to the seagull to grab onto its feathers but the seagull was too strong and managed to get away
Peter was able to take the photographs after he noticed the fight between the two adult birds.
He did not even realise what was happening until he looked at the photos later and noticed the duckling.
'Sadly, no escape for the duckling but that's nature and why ducks have large broods,' he said.
Peter liked that his photographs told a story and that they included reflections of all the action.
'When I looked later I felt I'd captured something interesting, if somewhat sad,' he said.
Peter took photos after he saw the two adult birds fighting but only realised they were fighting over a duckling when he looked at his photographs later
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