Different tactics today. I was out before sunrise and within 10 minutes she arrived screaming in low over the water almost like the avian equivalent of a Red Arrows jet then she pulled up and turned to port then starboard and settled on the headline of a trawler behind me then quick as a flash off again heralding her arrival with her constant call sign. There then followed a hectic 5 minutes of low level sorties darting back and forth but each time pulling up short of her intended landing place. I presume that her enemy radar had picked me up. Six of these sorties took place then on the seventh I was bit more agile and spun around 180 degrees to focus in on her settled on Lilly Grace’s headline. If I had been six inches to port I would have been in it. At 550mm hand held on a monopod this was shot at 1/100th at F6.3. It is not a good image but worth a post.

This seventh sortie was some 2 hours after the first. Just as in my large format work, patience is also required for flighty wildlife such as Alcedo Atthis.