Reculver following the Thanet coastal path | - Click on the image above to view gallery
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 What a sky
We like to keep up with the local birding websites as it’s a good way of knowing what’s about, especially as we are close to many coastal locations where migrant birds arrive and leave. The area we walked today is a well-known spot for seeing lots of birds.
We have often visited Reculver Towers and the last time we were here it was just after Christmas: it was so cold that there was a heavy frost on the beach which was fascinating as I’d never seen seaweed with frost on it before. If you would like to know the history of the towers there is a description in that journal entry as it’s certainly very interesting.
Today we walked along the sea wall, a very popular place for walking and cycling too. The Thanet Coastal Path starts at Reculver and we wondered if we might in the future be able to do some of this linear walk using the train to help us get to where we parked the car. Today, however, we hadn’t anything like that planned but we had our lunch with us, and as we were feeling hungry as we passed some breakwaters on the beach we decided these would make a good place to stop.
The tide was on its way out and as we sat there tucking in we watched several species of birds including Oystercatchers, Redshanks, Spotted Redshanks, Turnstones and Ringed Plovers feeding either on the sandbanks that were being exposed by the receding tide or at the edge of the beach itself. We sat there for a long time watching them through our binoculars. We also saw a few Brent Geese on the beach, part of a flock of over a hundred that we saw flying later in the day.  Oyster fishery
Another reason I must confess for being here is that I had recently seen a pictures taken at Reculver which I thought was really interesting and I would like to find the spot it was taken. The picture shows a water outlet with the towers of Reculver behind. Now as it was low tide I had more chance of finding this spot and following some of the stones that make up the defences below the towers I soon found it. These huge pieces of rock that absorb the sea’s energy and help with erosion control are actually imported from Sweden They are called Hornblende Gneiss.
The light however by now was horrid so I didn’t rate my chances of getting the picture I had in my mind. The sky was grey and I was taking my shots into the sun or what little there was shining occasionally through the clouds. I also didn’t have my tripod with me to set up a shot with an exposure long enough to get the dynamic appearance of moving water. It was actually so windy I’m not sure even having a tripod would have helped; it’s a place to return to when the conditions are right. All I need is the rising sun lighting up the towers in a gentle early morning light, a low tide to expose this water outlet and some good weather. I wonder how often that happens!
 Lightroom version 1  Lightroom version 2  Lightroom version 3
When I was processing my pictures of this scene I do what I normally do and use a programme called Lightroom to process the RAW files. Now when I process something I usually try to get it as close as I can to how I remember seeing it when I took the picture. On this occasion though I just couldn’t get it right and I have three different versions of it including one in black and white. I’m not convinced I like any of them really as I’m pretty certain it could be so much better. A few days later I did go back at sunrise and the picture below is the view sort of how I imagined it at sunrise and much better than the pictures taken when the sky was very flat. I'll be writing a journal entry about that soon  The view at Sunrise
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Gary ....