Back to school.....

.....a gathering of Pied Stilts perhaps at the school gate, parents with youngsters catching up on holiday outings before school starts, sadly there's always one whose on the outer, their parent had already left them.

I had a fantastic morning down at the estuary with blipper mpp26. We had hoped for a sunrise but in fact it was really dismal, a mix of thick grey cloud, sea fog and some very light drizzle, hopeless for photography. Who'd have thought it was summer, well to be fair it was really warm 17C at 5.50am! Anyway we weren't deterred and clambered over the sand dunes for a wander along the beach. 

We could hear terns flying above but couldn't see them. Godwits took to the air and flew over the sea, quick and fast but we weren't quite ready for them. We watched a shag attacking a fish and then greedily in one gulp it was gone, fish for breakfast! Some spoonbills were sweeping along as they do, one had touches of black on it's wings and making a terrible low squawk begging to be fed but the adults completely ignored him, he was very capable of feeding himself. 

The sea was rolling in as the estuary emptied out, a boat was only just visible along the horizon, no sign of a sunrise, not even a hint of where it was going to rise. 

A couple of extras today trying to capture the mood of the surroundings and a couple of bird shots.

Thanks mpp26 for a wonderful morning :)

Tuesday......no sunrise, the afternoon couldn't be more different to the morning, blue sky, a whisper of air drifts by, hot, so very, very hot 30C thought to be peaking between 4-5pm, so it could get hotter.

Happy Tuesday everyone :)