Seahake

The first day of my holiday week found me rushing around doing a few little jobs culminating in grocery shopping from 1700-1830! The main reason I was in a rush was that I visited the RSPB Belfast Lough Reserve near the Shorts factory in Belfast harbour for the first time, and stayed three times as long as I'd intended.
I found out about the reserve from fellow-Blipper Rutherfordium, who took some great pictures there earlier this year, and it is an oasis of calm.
Most of the birdies where small and in the distance, even with my 70-300mm zoom at it's full potential, so I was very happy though to notice the proximity of the big colourful ships!
This is the Seahake, a chemical tanker built in 2003 and registered in Bremen, Germany.

My runner up shot is a close up of some of the pipework involved in unloading her cargo.

I'll definitely be back at the reserve soon, especially if this awesome October weather keeps up!