As something of a follow-up to the previous post, today was one of those exceptional surprises: a Bank Holiday when the sun shines! I'm still getting over the shock :faint:
But good weather is good weather (even when it occurs against all the odds), and I made a return trip to Rottingdean. This time the tide was out, and this time I also kept an eye on when it was likely to come in 😉 The shore was crowded with people but, as ever, if you head along the front to the rock pools it's easy enough to find a quiet spot. And it's the quiet spots that are the preferred haunts of the less gregarious of the sea birds.
A small flock of oystercatchers were enjoying the sun, skimming along the water's edge.
Oystercatchers
The fourth bird in the shot (top left) is a sandwich tern, once again masking it's appearance by attempting to integrate with other species. This seems to be a common trait of theirs. And it was the terns that got most of my attention. Watching them in flight was interesting. Like the oystercatchers they tend to call/whistle while in flight, but more distinctive than that is a very noticeable 'circular' wing movement. I'd not noticed this before, but it was very clear today and will help identify them at a distance in future. It's quite different from gull movements, and different again from the stiff wing-beat of the fulmars. As a rule, wing movement is one of the easier indicators of what's around if you can't get close enough to see any detail. It's just a matter of looking out for differences.
They were in a playful mood, skimming along between rocky landing sites. 
Ready?
There are several more shots from today and from a couple of weeks ago in the Sandwich Terns album.
And just because… here's a photo of the bold vixen from last night.
Camera note: all shots taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens and UV filter, except the fox which was taken with the EF 24-105 F4L IS USM.
14 Comments
Great shots!! Especially the Sandwiches!
Great shots of the tern race :up:
Second photo of the race :up:
Eric, thanks!
Darko, thanks!
Robin, thanks. 😀
Yes, wonderful photos of the terns in flight!
Great snadwich tern shots, all I have are some distant ones on a post!
Lovelly photos, it was sort of a Northwest-Southeast split weatherwise, we had cloud and rain after 3pm lol! Had such a great holiday though and took about less than 1000 photos as i try to not wear the camera out too much hehe, still got about 800 photos! 😀
Oh, this is a synchronism. I've just seen my friend's blog in which sea birds are flying in the northern Japan.
And here, I find your blog.
Your picture is great.
And my friend, Lucian's picture is as good as you.
Please visit him. He can read and write in English.
http://familiarsight.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/
Hi Sam, thanks for posting. I just took a look at your friend's blog. Those are great photos!
Neil, thanks. One of the less common local birds, but I really enjoy watching them (even if they always try to hide among another flock).
Adele, thanks. They're such graceful birds. Great fun to watch.
Mark, thanks! It'll take some time sorting out those photos. I've got the same problem after our break!