30th January

What a beautiful day we've had here in Torbay today, apologies to all those who have been suffering the snow. We had a few hailstones early this morning but by midmorning the sun was out.
After yesterday's near failure to grab a blip I had told myself I was not to miss out today. Had a course appointment this morning and once that was done it was home for some lunch, coffee and a quick "plan of action" decision - wide angle lens, ND filter and tripod to grab a long exposure shot in the town centre. However it was too busy and I found no inspiration for a shot, maybe another day.
So I headed on down to the harbourside where I spotted this cormorant resting on the slipway of the inner harbour, it allowed me to take several shots getting to within about 20 feet of it, but watched me closely ready to disappear at the first sign of danger. Once I'd got my photo I left him alone to enjoy the peace.
I then carried on around to the other side of the harbour taking a few photos here and there including this one of Torquay taken from Haldon Pier. In editing I have recreated a picture I created a few years ago.

 Looking out into the bay and out to the channel I could see several ships at anchor either sheltering from recent bad weather or like these two simply waiting for orders, nearby Brixham is the last pilotage port before ships leave the English channel.
Further on back towards the D-Day slipways I spotted this Turnstone looking for food. I've started carrying a little bag of wild bird seed when I go out taking photos, mainly for the robins and other small birds, so I scattered a small handful towards him, which he appeared to enjoy. I was half expecting the lesser black-backed gull sitting atop a nearby lamppost, watching enviously, to swoop down and nick the seeds, he didn't. What I wasn't expecting was for 6 or 7 of this fellas mates to join him, so I scattered a bit more seed which they soon devoured.

 At the landward end of Haldon Pier is Living Coasts which is home to some surprising and perhaps unexpected residents of Torquay. Todays Blip was a sunset shot of Torquay Town Marina and can be view by clicking this date 30th January.