I had to pop down to Rottingdean this morning and took the opportunity to see if our regular winter visitors, the fulmars, were back. And they were. I counted 20 or 30 skimming along the cliff tops looking for nesting sites. None landed, although several came close to cliff-face touchdown. Fulmars have very weak legs (they spend an inordinate amount of time at sea), and landing, or indeed walking, is one of the trickier parts of their routine. The general pattern is to fly close to a possible landing site (normally a small crevice in a cliff), hover over it for a moment, and then retreat and start the process all over again. On today's visit I didn't see any that had actually managed touch-down!

Down on the Undercliff walkway the wagtails and rock pipits were busy hunting the late autumn insects. This one paused for a moment and tried to out stare me!


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Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

This Post Has 12 Comments

  1. Rock pipit played the game: First who blinks, looses!!! :eyes:

  2. Really nice shots …

  3. Did the pipit win? 😉

  4. Amazing fulmar shots! And, the first pipit photo, hahahaha he looks peeved at you. Did you interrupt his lunch?

  5. Adele, I'm afraid it did. Out-stared by a pipit! Bang goes the last of my street cred. 🙁

  6. Darko, I suspect I lost as I blinked (clicked the shutter) which I guess is cheating 😉

  7. dW, thanks!

  8. Cynthia, thanks. I think it was eyeing me up in case I was lunch!

  9. Very nice shots of Fulmars

  10. 😆

  11. Hahhahah 😀

  12. Sami, thanks!

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