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I paid another visit to Sidmouth yesterday to look for the small group of Purple Sandpipers. At first there was no sign of them and I sat on the sea wall for quite sometime……. at least an hour……. then a small flock of waders flew low over the water and settled on the rocks.  I was pleased when my patience had been rewarded because it was the sandpipers. They had been waiting for just the correct state of tide.  It was quite rough with breakers crashing in and the sun peeping through, straight in to the camera. Good photography was a really hard thing to achieve, most shots being just silhouettes.  The conditions really tested any skill that I may have, I was having to constantly adjust the camera to get a shot.  Even when the breakers came in it would affect the picture because of the brightness imparted by the waves and when the wave receded the camera needed adjusting again because it was significantly darker within seconds. There was a few more people than previously, due to the sunnier conditions, time of day and half-term holiday.  This in it's self made it a bit more difficult because people seeing the camera…. and the birds….. were interested to know about them.  It's nice to talk to people, but I did miss a few good opportunities as I being constantly asked what was special about the birds.  I did get a couple of shots that were half OK though.

This is an interesting shot. It shows what the birds are feeding on, the "algae-like" weed appears to be the attraction and they seem to feed on it voraciously.

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