{"id":1711,"date":"2010-09-03T00:09:32","date_gmt":"2010-09-02T23:09:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/archives\/1711"},"modified":"2013-11-10T13:49:13","modified_gmt":"2013-11-10T13:49:13","slug":"plovers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/plovers\/","title":{"rendered":"Plovers"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

A few shots from this afternoon at Rottingdean. The tide was in (not my preferred time for visiting), which meant a hike in the direction of the Marina to find any shoreline. It proved a worthwhile visit. At first all I could see were some black-headed gulls nesting down among the sea weed. Then I spotted some movement. Plovers. Lots of ringed plovers (with plenty of juveniles among them). Among them one bird stood out, head and shoulders above the rest: a grey plover.
<\/span> Grey Plover<\/span><\/p>\n

This was a first for me. Like the black-headed gull the dark plumage will fade over winter, but at the moment it was very distinctive.
<\/span> Grey plover in flight<\/span><\/p>\n

There was just one grey, but countless ringed plovers. They merge perfectly with the pebble beach, and can be incredibly difficult to spot from a distance. These are juveniles (I'm basing the identification on the white stripe above the eye… they are very similar to the 'little ringed plover'.
<\/span> Ringed plovers (juveniles)<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> More juveniles<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> Adult ringed plover<\/span><\/p>\n

There seems to be a running theme in recent posts of birds flocking. Well the plovers have clearly been following this blog, and on several occasions took to the air for a quick circuit.
<\/span> A passing cormorant stops to watch as they fly past<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> Heading back<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> Touch down<\/span>
\"Nature<\/a><\/span>
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 40D and EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[989],"tags":[658],"class_list":["post-1711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-water-birds-birds-2","tag-plovers","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t