Cob and pen

The Kent Estuary at Sandside, shortly after sunrise. The two mute swans flying in tandem up the channel with mudflats behind. The cob (male) is leading the pen. In large you may just be able to see the larger black knob at the base of the bill of the cob. As they flew along they went in an out of shadow since the sun was only just peeking between the houses behind me. In this one they were both bathed in sunlight.

I blipped one of the swans a few weeks ago floating serenely on blue water. They are present on the estuary at Sandside throughout the winter.

This is the first attempt with the new telephoto zoom lens. Most of my birds to date have been small dots in large landscapes. Hopefully now I can get a little closer. That said I had failed earlier with both the heron and cormorants that are usually at the end of Arnside Pier first thing in the morning. They took flight as soon as they saw me, and with low light all I caught was whirry wings.