Things are inevitably a little less organized over the holiday season and today was the first in a while when time and weather cooperated sufficiently to allow a few photos. These were taken during a blustery afternoon at Rottingdean. 
The tide was out, and the local oystercatchers were enjoying the easy feeding.
There were plenty of gulls as well, including this great black-backed gull.
And several cormorants were skimming the shore between Saltdean and Brighton Marina.
The final shot today is one taken in the garden this evening. I'd glanced up and noticed that the moon (full) was encircled by a vast halo. The small dot on the upper right edge of the outer ring (the main halo) is Jupiter. I seem to recall reading somewhere that "halo far" equals "rain near" so that might not be good news for tomorrow, but it was beautiful to see. I'm not sure this photo does it justice, but it's the best I could manage.
Camera note: all day shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens. The moon was taken with the EF17-40mm f/4L USM lens.
derWandersmann
28 Dec 2012Nice shots, Words … the first is a real beauty, and the moon is rather remarkable. What was your ISO for that?
ICU109
28 Dec 2012First pic is breathtaking! all great !!! …and my hubby told me Jupiter was bright just now. nice to see!
SittingFox
30 Dec 2012There is something about the sea that so many people of such different walks of life can stare at it for hours. I'm enjoying living by the coast again myself, and the mood of the cliffs in the first shot is great :up:
gdare
1 Jan 2013I've seen cormorants in Serbia, Canada and Mexico, and, thanks to people in Opera, I know there are many of them in England, USA, Germany… They are everywhere 😀
Words
1 Jan 2013Adele, I love being able to get down to the sea, though it can get busy on nice days (like today).
Words
1 Jan 2013dW, the first shot is just to show that we do sometimes get decent weather, though it was far too infrequent in 2012.
Details for the moon: ISO 3200, f/4.0, shutter 1/8s.
Words
1 Jan 2013Kathy, thanks. Your husband is right. Jupiter is very sharp in the sky at the moment.
This shot is from October 2011. It shows Jupiter with three of its moons.
Words
1 Jan 2013Darko, beware! Cormorants are planning to take over the planet. We don't stand a chance :yikes:
ICU109
14 Jan 2013Holy cow! this with telescope lens right? They say 2 of Jupiters' moons have water, thusly perhaps capacity for lifeform of some type. Love the water shots! But blustery I can live without! I can stay warm and dry and still see the ocean here! thankx!
Words
14 Jan 2013Kathy, I think I took the Jupiter/moons shot with my 400mm lens with a 1.4x teleconverter attached so nothing too fancy. I used a tripod to keep it stable. It does get very windy here. 😀 :smurf:
derWandersmann
15 Jan 2013Yep. 400 × 1.4 = 560, which is what the EXIF says.
ICU109
29 Jan 2013well still. I had one hell of a time with my camera phone even with zoom on couple nights ago to get a pic or two of the full moon. I think too many lights around competing.
Words
31 Jan 2013Kathy, light pollution certainly doesn't help, but the biggest problem with a camera phone will be getting a fast enough shutter speed. If you zoom all the movement is magnified. Tricky. Best is to line up the shot with the camera resting on something solid, and use a delayed trigger if your phone offers that option.
ICU109
13 Feb 2013true. well, forget the moon. Got a great pic of it thru a palm tree years ago in the Bahamas, half sec shutter black and white. perfect. those gadabout days are gone.. be lucky to snap a bird from the back porch!
Words
13 Feb 2013Originally posted by ICU109:
Nice!