Long Tail on the Shortest Day

Went for a walk along the beach in the afternoon - a break from image editing. A fair variety of birds considering it's a busy city beach. Spotted a dozen different species. In the order I saw them - Black Headed Gull, Herring Gull, Oystercatcher, Great Crested Grebe, Common Gull, Eider, Crow, Long Tailed Duck (pair pictured above; only the male has a long tail), Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Cormorant, Starling. Met our neighbours A and N who were out for a walk on the Prom and walked back with them as it got dark (at about 4pm - but now the days start to get longer again).