Everything is Permuted

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

The view toward Saltdean

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

The view out to sea

The dog walkers were out

And so were the cyclists

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.

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.