A friend had asked if I knew where he could photograph Purple Sandpipers - Ness Point Lowestoft, I said, so last Friday saw us heading there. I was not unduly bothered about it as I had already taken some decent shots of the species but life is full of surprises and this day was to prove it.

Arriving at Ness Point in heavyish cloud, we looked around and saw two or three on the rocks near the promenade. I picked out one on top of a rock, pointed it out to my friend and held back for him to get close for a decent shot. He surprised me by walking straight past it, flushing it and missing the opportunity. They then all flew with no shots taken.

However, at the end of the promenade I spotted a Shag, posing perfectly. Taking great Breitling Replica Watches care, I got into a close position and took my first shot.

With the sun suddenly appearing, I carefully moved position and shot again.

The bird was fully aware of my presence but was not at all fazed by me so I continued to shoot with more confidence, moving position to suit and getting what I think is my shot of the day.

and even getting full frame close ups.

What an amazing confiding bird.

It was now approaching mid-day and the Purple Sandpipers had not reappeared so we moved to a car park on the north of the town to see if any interesting gulls were around - no such luck - had lunch and retuned to Ness Point. A flock of ten or so Purple Sandpipers were right on the point so some distant shots were possible.

A small flock of Turnstones flew in to feed much closer.

and this seemed to encourage the Purple Sandpipers to gradually move closer for some colourful shots on the seaweed.

After really filling our boots, we decided to move up the coast to Great Yarmouth to see if there were any omega speedmaster replica Meditearranean Gulls on the beach. We soon found a few, mixed in with some Black-headed Gulls but by then the light was deteriorating rapidly so we only managed a few shots before they were all flushed leaving an empty beach.

Anyway, despite only four species during the day, I was very pleased with the results.

More images in the Recent Additions section.