Sanderlings

A few shots of these lovely little waders, taken on my local beach at high tide one morning a few days back:

Amazing to watch them racing back and forth along the tideline at such close range, almost like clockwork toys.

Park- and Shore-birds

I went into the Botanic Gardens in Singleton Park for half-an-hour or so before they closed this afternoon.

Here are a few of the shots I took:-

Blue Tit:

Coal Tit:

Male Chaffinch:

Robin:

Magpie:

After the gardens closed, I walked along the seashore to Blackpill, where it was high tide. Here, there was the usual large gathering of Oystercatchers; smaller numbers of Curlews; a handful of Ringed Plovers and Dunlins; half-a-dozen Knots; and a flock of several hundred Sanderlings, of which this was part:

High Tide II

It was quite sunny this evening, so, again, I headed down to Blackpill to see what was around at high tide. Amongst the many gulls, was this Black-headed Gull:

There was a large roosting flock of Oystercatchers, until something or someone disturbed them, and they took to the skies (the city of Swansea can be seen in the background):



There was the usual abundance of Ringed Plovers, including this juvenile:

And this adult:

Dunlins were probably the most numerous of the birds there this evening, and looked great as the evening sunshine illuminated their plumage:

There were also a small number of Sanderlings present:

As well as some Turnstones:

As the sun dipped over the horizon, I went over to where the main flock of birds were roosting:

Just as I had packed my gear away, I peered over the sand dunes and saw two Grey Plovers on the beach, one of which was attempting to eat a small crab it had caught. I got my stuff out again, and was able to get a few shots before a stray dog scared both birds away. Just as well I had taken my tripod with me today, as the exposure for this shot was 1/15th sec. at f/4.5 and ISO 400 - using mirror lock-up and the 2-second delay self-timer. Thankfully, it stayed reasonably still, and I was able to get a fairly sharp shot: