An evening along a Cornish shoreline
One of the last significant stretches of good shoreline to support fairly sizeable numbers of waders in the West of Cornwall, before the coastline returns to rugged cliffs and small coves where many species will struggle to find feeding spots. This stretch has large amounts of seaweed washed up along the beach and a vast open area at low tide with rock pools, so it supports enough good habitat for waders stopping off on migration or have filtered down into the corner of the country.
I’ve spent a fair bit of time at this location and with a number of species here. It’s known to turn up the occasional wader each year from as far as North America but unfortunately not when I’ve been nearby, due to its far south west location. However the common species have generally been really cooperative, along with the overall surroundings that provide great conditions to shoot in. This post is from one particular evening in early autumn last year, where some time was spent with a group of Dunlin and Ringed Plovers.
In amongst the messy shoreline that’s filled with heaps of seaweed there was a little bit of movement. I noticed a flock had nestled themselves in it and were hunkered down as they managed to blend in well and remain still when a dog would run past (often an issue when photographing waders as there’s always the chance they would get spooked and be off to a different area).
They eventually started getting up and feeding again as I was laying low down in a good spot so they weren’t bothered with my presence and there weren’t as many people and dogs going past as it got to late afternoon. This was great as it was a pretty uninterrupted time just enjoying photographing them.
As the sun got lower there was eventually a gap in the clouds and the evening rays of light came through. Shooting backlight during this time was great fun too as bokeh and different colours showed through.
The seaweed is great for framing images but sometimes difficult, as wanting an eye level shot means being low enough where the bird is slightly obscured. So either waiting for them to move into a clear opening or shifting my body helped get a clearer view and isolate the subject in the surrounding mess.
Overall an amazing evening photographing these two species and I never tire of doing so, despite being the more frequented waders along the coast. I have a few more sessions from this great spot to share in future posts and hope to return again soon. It would also be great to try during spring migration when they may be showing off their summer plumage and also few more uncommon migrants drop in.