Kestrel

An early morning sea watch in relatively calm conditions proved tricky as the light conditions were bad resulting in mostly silhouetted birds against an orange sky as the sun rose. A light fog and haze also added to the difficulty. However after an hour or so the usual morning westerly movement of auks had occurred along with a few more Kittiwakes and Gannets than usual but to be honest it was not all that inspiring. Walking back to my car I noticed a small raptor flying low and going past my car out of view and I thought it had landed. Peering carefully and slowly around my car a Kestrel had landed next to a large puddle in the shingle and proceeded to wander in to the puddle to drink and bathe. Given the still conditions and the fact that I was now looking north with the sun behind me the opportunities for photography were superb and I couldn't believe my luck in getting almost perfect reflections of this lovely falcon.