Everything is Permuted

The weather has not been good. Along the coast gusts of up to 100mph were reported overnight. It wasn't quite so severe where we are, but we awoke to metal-grey skies, wind and rain. By early afternoon there were hints that the sun might break through, but this proved to be a false dawn. The squalls were moving through rapidly though so I chanced a quick visit to Rottingdean.

The tide was out, which normally would be ideal but I was after crashing waves against the sea walls. I ventured down on to the beach instead. A small number of people were braving the elements, but generally it was quiet. Except for the sea...







I didn't stay long. The winds made it treacherous. Stones were strewn over the paths, and the light (never good to begin with) was fading fast. The rains were never far away.

It's quiet now (though still raining).

Back in the garden, it's also been quiet. The trail cam has revealed a much reduced level of activity over the past week (brief glimpses of the foxes, and one sighting of a badger). Seasonal, or perhaps weather related. Last night (strictly speaking, the early hours of Saturday morning), I did finally get a direct sighting of the Bold Vixen. She was lurking at the rear of the garden. She is still displaying a slight limp, but it's harder to detect now. She occasionally holds the leg when she's standing, but mostly she seems content to place weight on it. A good recovery all told.


Camera note: all the sea shots taken with the Canon 40D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens and UV filter (mainly to protect the lens). I used the EF 24-105 F4L IS USM lens for the vixen.

As something of a follow-up to the previous post, today was one of those exceptional surprises: a Bank Holiday when the sun shines! I'm still getting over the shock

But good weather is good weather (even when it occurs against all the odds), and I made a return trip to Rottingdean. This time the tide was out, and this time I also kept an eye on when it was likely to come in The shore was crowded with people but, as ever, if you head along the front to the rock pools it's easy enough to find a quiet spot. And it's the quiet spots that are the preferred haunts of the less gregarious of the sea birds.

A small flock of oystercatchers were enjoying the sun, skimming along the water's edge.
Oystercatchers

The fourth bird in the shot (top left) is a sandwich tern, once again masking it's appearance by attempting to integrate with other species. This seems to be a common trait of theirs. And it was the terns that got most of my attention. Watching them in flight was interesting. Like the oystercatchers they tend to call/whistle while in flight, but more distinctive than that is a very noticeable 'circular' wing movement. I'd not noticed this before, but it was very clear today and will help identify them at a distance in future. It's quite different from gull movements, and different again from the stiff wing-beat of the fulmars. As a rule, wing movement is one of the easier indicators of what's around if you can't get close enough to see any detail. It's just a matter of looking out for differences.

Looking for me?

They were in a playful mood, skimming along between rocky landing sites.
Ready?

Go!

The race is on!

Beat you, la! la! la!

There are several more shots from today and from a couple of weeks ago in the Sandwich Terns album.

And just because... here's a photo of the bold vixen from last night.


Camera note: all shots taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens and UV filter, except the fox which was taken with the EF 24-105 F4L IS USM.