Windy day at the beach
The beach near Blyth harbour is usually relatively quiet during the week (fewer dog-emptiers to contend with), so with that in mind I braved the near gale-force gusts on Friday 7 December for a few hours with the camera.
Predictably, the high winds meant that there wasn’t too much to be seen (I’d hoped for snow bunting), but the usual suspects were reliable, with various gull species bouncing around on the wind, turnstones on the beach, eiders and cormorants in the harbour.
I settled down on the small stretch of beach immediately north of the south pier and – after a while – the turnstones forgot I was there.
Sitting down low and resting my elbows on my knees I was able to steady myself, the 40D and 100-400mm IS against the strong wind – 25 mph, gusting to nearly 40.
How windy it was is quite obvious in a couple of these turnstone pictures – you can barely see the bird for flying sand grains.
I’m rather pleased with the end result, especially considering the conditions – a satisfying way to spend a couple of windy hours…
Of note from a birding point of view was seeing a pair of kingfishers flying out from the harbour – a “patch tick” for me.
