Rottingdean Beach Life

By Paul Cecil | Published August 30, 2008

I've taken too many shots today and have only worked through a small proportion. So this is mainly a photo post. The shots were all taken at Rottingdean over a two hour period.

This first one was a bit of a surprise :yikes: And as far as I know, a 'first' for me.

A Mitchell B-25 Bomber

Out to sea

Seagulls on watch

These next two caught my eye by the sheer speed of their flight over the sea. Another first.

Oystercatchers

I've no idea what these are, but they were very colourful swimming in the rock pools.

Fish?

Cormorant

The larger-size version of these (and about two dozen more shots) are on my Rottingdean Beach album.

Camera note: All shots taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens, with the exception of 'Out to sea' which was taken with the EF17-40mm f/4L USM lens.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized, water birds and tagged , .

14 Comments

  1. Dudley August 30, 2008 at 2:08 am #

    Those squiggly thingys are cool

  2. CedarFox August 30, 2008 at 3:08 am #

    I never knew the Netherlands had any B-25s. Unusual fish too, could they possibly have been from a recent egg hatching?

  3. gdare August 30, 2008 at 5:08 am #

    Excellent shot of the B-25 :up:

    It seems like all these fishes are looking straight at you 😀

  4. SittingFox August 30, 2008 at 8:08 am #

    Might they be elvers? (That is a very wild guess.)

    Nice catch on the oystercatchers :up:

  5. Cynthia23 August 30, 2008 at 3:08 pm #

    Great photos – each one, but the Cormorant WOW! :up:

  6. Words August 30, 2008 at 9:08 pm #

    Eric, from what I can find the aircraft is currently owned by the 'Duke of Brabant Airforce' (I presume a private collection) based in Eidhoven. The Dutch livery is in honour of the RAF (Dutch) 320 Squadron which flew these in the war.

    The wigglies are being narrowed down to sand eel elvers!

  7. Words August 30, 2008 at 9:08 pm #

    Darko, thanks! Nice surprise with the B-25. It's airshow weekend locally, so odd sightings are the rule at the moment. I saw a spitfire today (from a distance).

  8. Words August 30, 2008 at 9:08 pm #

    Cynthia, thanks. Cormorants are great, but usually stay a good distance from the shore. Today I got lucky!

  9. Words August 30, 2008 at 9:08 pm #

    Andy, thanks. A perfect description of them.

  10. Words August 30, 2008 at 9:08 pm #

    Adele, I think you're on the right track with the elvers, possibly sand eels. The oystercatchers can really shift! I think the only thing I've seen move faster was the little auk I snapped about 18 months ago.

  11. Cynthia23 August 31, 2008 at 5:08 pm #

    Nice Words! :up:

  12. cakkleberrylane August 31, 2008 at 11:08 pm #

    Very beautiful photos! The fish/sand eels are really intersting.

  13. Words September 1, 2008 at 12:08 am #

    Thanks Cynthia!

  14. Words September 1, 2008 at 12:08 am #

    Lois, thanks. The sand eels/elvers were just a grabbed shot really. I didn't realize how colourful they were until I uploaded the picture. Nice surprise 🙂