Monday, August 25, 2008

Sand Bank Fishing

Living by the River Mersey estuary you get accustomed to the ebb and flow of the tide and how the local shore birds interact with the ever changing conditions. Normally the best photographic opportunities occur at high water but I decided to head out early on Saturday morning on a rapidly dropping tide to be greeted with some lovely light conditions (for a change!!) Recently numbers of Little Egrets have been increasing in the area I often visit with 12 birds now present. On arrival a few egrets were mixed in with a large flock of gulls feeding on small fish trapped in small pools and being washed down shallow gullies through the sand bank. I decided to sit it out on the sea wall and see if any birds would come in close to feed in the gulley, close to the base of the sea defenses. One bird was making good progress towards me until sacred off by a dogwalker.There is a group of grey herons that roost in a nearby pasture at high water and reappear as the tide drops away to join the fishing flocks. Generally herons are not the most approachable of birds so the best opportunities tend to be presented during fly-bys. We have some big tides at the moment (9 metres +) that sculpts the sand into interesting patterns and the speed of the ebbing water running down one of the channels can be seen in the background of this photo. Certainly somewhere I would not recommend falling in to. Landing gear down...and air brakes on Overall a very enjoyable short session with the herons and egrets and something I intend to repeat in the future when the light is again favourable.

4 comments:

kjpweb said...

When it comes to Herons and Egrets it's getting my attention. Looking at the Great Grey Heron, it appears, as if he'd be a little bit shorter and stockier then it's american cousin, the Great Blue Heron. I might be wrong on that (never saw them side by side) but it's legs seem to be visibly shorter.
Interesting!
Cheers, Klaus

Anonymous said...

Wonderful shots and very interesting commentary!

Anonymous said...

Love the photos. The air breaks is my favorite.

Rich Steel said...

Thank you Klaus, Jenny and Tommy for taking the time to comment.

Klaus as I have not seen a great blue heron it is difficult for me to draw comparison. However, I always stop for egrets and herons if the opportunity arises as they make great photographic subjects.

Cheers

Rich

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