Flight Path

Such is the serendipitous nature of photography that my beach walk in search of Wide Wednesday shots ends up with me watching cormorants following their flight path around the Little Orme. 

It is the most glorious day with crisp clear light, and wandering along a new - to me -  stretch of beach at Penrhyn Bay is blissful. It’s not a leisure beach as such, with steep shingle banks and seaweed-covered silt, but beautiful in its own right. I’m sure it will feature in a future blip. 

I continue walking towards the rocky outcrop of the Little Orme and climb the steps to reach this beautiful area. Immediately I find myself immersed into a world of birdsong,  and watch the stonechats flit from branch to branch. In the background is the harsh cacophony of Fulmars, but the cliffs are now in shadow and they’re hard to see. But out to sea, however, I notice squadrons of cormorants flying back towards the headland, and make my way to the cliff edge where I hope to get a better view. Some fly singly, others in groups of three, heading towards the cliff before turning sharply to head for the ledges to the west where they will perch to spread their wings to dry - sadly an area inaccessible to me. 

I find a comfy perch myself, and watch them for some time. Of course I end up with a ridiculous number of shots - many of which are blurred to say the least. And of course, it would be much better if I had my longer lens! This featured pair were two of three, unfortunately the third a bit too far behind to make the frame. As always, much better viewed large!