Flight of the Heron

When I looked out the window before dawn, heavy clouds sat on the eastern skyline suggesting a good sunrise was unlikely. I kept an eye on it but had showered and shaved before the sky started to fill with pastel shaded clouds. The strange thing was it was now 10 minutes after sunrise when the colours are usually dissipating and the camera is being put away.

So it was a quick dash down to the estuary to try and capture some of the reflected beauty in the sky. It was quite still and the air was filled with the calls of gulls, terns and curlews that roost overnight on a sandbank near the mouth of the river. There is something very special about this time of day and I find being out looking for a blip tends to heighten the senses to the sights, sounds and smells of nature.

As I blipped the reflected light over the old break-water I was alerted to the presence of a Heron by its harsh and quite unmistakable call of "frarnk". Almost simultaneously it appeared in the viewfinder to add a very small bit of interest to today's sunrise blip.

Once again, sunrise over the boats failed to get the nod from the jury - well Mrs B preferred this one!