Everything is Permuted

The rain finally cleared away from the coast mid afternoon, and needing some fresh air we went for a bracing walk along Rottingdean beach. For a dull windy day, it was high on the success scale for bird spotting. This is the view when we arrived.


I saw an oystercatcher skim by. And there were gulls aplenty, though mainly of the Herring variety. Among them was a great black-backed gull.


A more unusual visitor was lurking at the edge of the water. This is the first heron I've seen along the beach. The gulls eventually decided that a heron was one intruder too many, and several started a minor mobbing.




The heron settled further along the beach, near where this relatively rare visitor was trying its luck in the surf.


The heron had its own ideas though, and very soon chased the curlew away.


While all this was going on, a flock (well, six) cormorants flew by.


And on the rocks, the starlings gathered as the sun began to lower in the sky.


If there's one thing starlings are renowned for, it's their flocking and sure enough they took to the skies in a typically ragged, but unbelievably well coordinated, fashion.


And throughout, the sea transmuted into gold under the changing light.


Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 40D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens with UV filter.

The wind was still high when we got up on the following day, and once again I headed to St Justinians in the vain hope of the boats going out; and once again I was disappointed. The trips out to Ramsey Island were cancelled for the day. This is the nearest I got.
Boats at St Justinians

The prospects for later in the day weren't good, so we headed back along the coast to Whitesands, a large surfer beach. Despite my wobbles about heights, I did venture up the rocks; partly to make sure I hadn't spooked myself.
Whitesands Beach

Me near the top!

I'm so bold, I even sat down up there After a quick lunch in the surfer shop, we headed back to Solva. As I've said, it's such a beautiful spot. Sheltered, low level (in places), quiet and just perfect for sitting and watching the tides and the birds. Of course we saw more buzzards, and the black-headed gulls were a delight as they skimmed along the harbour walls.
Black-headed gull (winter plumage)

But today the buzzards weren't the largest bird in the harbour. Hidden in a corner of the bay, in the shadows, I spotted a familiar and elegant outline. My years of stalking practice paid off ( ) as I edged my way across the sands.
Heron at Solva

The heron waded calmly along the water's edge, until it was eventually disturbed by a dog-walker and made off to safer, and higher, ground.


It stayed perched on the rocks for a short while, and then proceeded on a gentle flight around the bay, circling several times before heading off over the cliffs.




It's difficult to ask for a more cooperative subject! And when the birds were absent, there's always the sea.

The sea at Solva

In the comments section of the previous post there's a brief discussion about the tides. These shots may give a sense of how things change over a few hours at Solva. The tide is gentle, but quick, and it's quite easy to find yourself standing in water as it comes in if you don't take care.

At low tide

Just 2 hours later, the scene is transformed.

At high tide

The next entry will (finally) feature the seals. It may take me a couple of days to sort that out. There are lots of photos to work through, and I'd like to put a short video together as well. But as a taste of what's to come, here's a couple of shots taken from the first of two trips I made on the final day of our travels.

Seals on Ramsey Island

Meeting the boat

Camera note: all shots were taken with the Canon 40D (except the one of me, taken by Mrs Words on the Canon S2). The lenses were the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS for everything except the low and high tide pictures which were taken with the EF 24-105 F4L IS USM lens.