After heavy overnight rain, the skies cleared this morning to produce one of these perfect winter days. It was cold, and the winds were still moderate to strong, but with clear blue skies I only had one destination in mind: the beach at Rottingdean. I wasn't disappointed.
Breakers at Rottingdean
It was busy, but not crowded. People were watching the waves crash in against the sea walls, cameras at the ready, risking a soaking.
The view to the Marina
I spent a couple of hours there, walking to Saltdean along the coast. It was as I was heading in that direction that I noticed that the gulls were behaving oddly. Not these gulls on the water:
Gulls on a choppy sea
I mean these 'gulls' which were hugging the cliff walls, and challenging the local pigeons for cliff-edge perches. And that's because they're not gulls, they're fulmars. It was the large black eye that caught my attention, that and the behaviour. I've not seen these before, not knowingly.
Fulmar
Pair of fulmars perched on the cliff face
One of the odder things about these birds is that they employ chemical defences! Apparently they spit stomach oil to keep predators away. Worth knowing… I won't get too close. :yuck:
And just to prove that the sky really was blue…
Fulmar
And that the sea was really rough…
Sea
There are several more of the 'wild sea' shots in the Rottingdean album (18 shots in all, from today).
Camera note: all shots taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens, with the addition of a Hoya UV filter, mainly to protect the lens from the sea spray.
24 Comments
Wow fulmars, good find 🙂 well taken photos too
Those wave pics are great too
Its funny because I was looking at photos of fulmars on a cliff in Kent a couple of ours ago!
Thanks Andy!
Great post
The fulmars were a first for me. Seems a slightly odd time for them to be about, but there were plenty of them skimming the cliffs. I think I was the only person with a camera pointing away from the sea while I was taking those shots 😉 The waves were pretty spectacular though 🙂
Great series of photos.
Joe
Beautiful, especially the sea and waves :up:
Wow the sea was very rough! :yikes: Very good find on the Fulmars, i wonder why seagulls are so territorial? 😛
Is Rottingdean your closest beach? seems a funny name they have given that town dosent it!
Thanks Joe!
Mark, it was a good sea, for sure. I imagine sea birds are very defensive because having spent so much time at sea they aren't about to let anyone else push them out of their resting/nesting sites. Technically they are 'petrels', but they sure look like gulls from a distance. Rottingdean is probably slightly closer than Brighton Beach, but I prefer it anyway (fewer people and a much wider variety of bird life). Strange name indeed. It inspired the shop in 'The League of Gentlemen' series (local shops for local people!)
Darko, the waves were about perfect yesterday
Excellent photos! The second one reminds ne if a dutch painting. You certainly had some photogenic seas there. Great shots of the fulmars too!
Wow, the first shot is spectacular!
Well done for the fulmars. The pair that I saw in Cornwall over Christmas were the first that I've photographed – not sure I've seen them before or not. It would never occur to me to look for them at Rottingdean! The "tubenose" beaks are quite distinctive :up:
Thanks Lois! The sea is always worth checking out on a windy day. Great views along the coast, and the light was near perfect as you could hope for.
Adele, I thought it would be good down there on Sunday, but it exceeded my expectations. I didn't count the fulmars but probably at least 20 along that part of the cliff. It was the eyes rather than the beaks that first caught my attention. I've just checked a bit more and apparently they appear from around November on the Sussex cliffs, though that's news to me!
Great post, Words! Really wild sea and very good fulmars shots. I like the first and the third ones best of all :up:
tbr writes:
Lovely shot of the Fulmar words!
Maybe I've holiday'd in the right places (north Devon, west Wales etc…) and just bin lucky to have seen many Fulmars. Been gobbed on by one too – not nice!
Your earlier Redwing "abstracts" have given me a lot to think about too – thanks for sharing your editing techniques – great result!
Thanks Anna! The birds were a real bonus. I knew the sea would be good.
Doug, I'm Not sure I'd fancy getting in spitting range of the fulmars but it was one of themore unusual local sightings. The redwings are pretty little things, but in the current weather it's a bit of a challenge to find a shot that will work.
Great photos! WOW! Thanks for this mornings daydreams! 🙂
Indeed, that is useful to know about the fulmar's defence mechanism! :yuck: 😉
Vulpes, not a pleasant thought really. Interesting birds though.
Cynthia, thanks!
Gorgeous pictures!! Looks like the sort of day that will be memorable for years to come.
Donna
Thanks Donna!