Brighton Birthday
October 31, 2008 by Bird
Filed under Autumn, Blog, Fauna, Good Stuff, On My Travels
It was R’s birthday this week and we set off for Brighton beach with a bottle of pink Champagne to celebrate. It was bright and cold and the shingle beach was dry enough to recline on, which we did while picnicking and quaffing our heady pink drink. Brighton fascinates me – known affectionately as “London on sea” for it’s urbane sensitivities, you would think that beyond the occasional gang of feral kids there is little wild about the place. However anywhere coastal cannot ever be completely tame, and there are some wildlife marvels to be had there by anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear. I’m saving my favourite wonder for a later post, and for now I hope you like my picture diary of what we got up to.
We stayed on the beach till dusk, watching the seagulls and surfers (not much surf, they were using paddles to get around!) and dogs and little kids. It had been an empty blue sky till the sun started to go down, when obligingly lots of dramatic clouds appeared. It was beautiful, especially as living in such a built up area I rarely get to see such an open sky.
Two fabulous things happen at dusk, and you want to be actually standing on the pier to get the most out of them. One is that the lights on the funfair come on, and in the half light once the sun’s gone down it looks its garish and trashy best.
The other is actually far more beautiful and exciting, and that is when the resident, many thousands strong flocks of starlings arrive to roost. I’ve tried several times to capture this in photographs and on film but it is impossible to do it justice. I’ve seen people run out of buildings in astonishment to watch as the screeching wheeling flocks descend like a tornado. Have no doubt that when I have enough material to even try and capture this I will be covering it properly.
I love Brighton Pier because it seems to have the best and worst of humanity written in big bright gaudy lights but the natural world has just as big a slice of the action, and the movements of those tiny birds upstages anything we mere humans could ever dream up.
Once the birds have installed themselves chattering and whistling beneath our feet on the structure below, what could be better than a ride on the carousel. Those brightly painted horses might be made of wood but with the lights twinkling and the swirling movements of the ride they seem just as alive as any of us.
As I say I’ll be writing more about the starlings soon, so keep reading!
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This looks like a magical place and seems you had a lot of fun! Have you submitted to SkyWatch Friday? They would love your sky photos—they’re just awesome. Glad to see your construction is over!
Hi Roadgurl5, good to see you here! I haven’t done Skywatch Friday but if I have time I will, that’s a great idea! However… we are having a Samhain party tonight so there’s lots to do
Bird, what a wonderful post! Glad you had the right evening for lounging on the beach and what a sky!! Love the starlings…they actually roost UNDER the funfair?!? How positively Hitchcockian!!
I look forward to hearing much more about them…I think starlings are fascinating!
Blessed Samhain to you and yours! I’m stealing a moment before heading out for our own revelries.
Just wanted to say that I love the vivid photos! Gorgeous and garish, they certainly convey a wonderful sense of fun.
Thanks for the comment.
Your Sky photos are stunning.
The rest are equally perfect.
Geoff
Introduced here in the 1890s, the European starlings have certainly run amok on this side of the pond, competing aggressively with the native birdlife. Still, their numbers in Southern California don’t seem to be anything like the flock you photographed. It’s interesting how one species signals such different things to different people in different places. Still, even with overtones of conquest and all that, huge numbers of anything is impressive!
Awesome shots! So nice to see that the merry-go-round is well maintained. They’re kind of sad looking once half of the bulbs are burnt out, y’know?
Your photos of Brighton Beach are truly fantastic. I was there once when I visited NY and have never forgotten its special qualities. I can’t say enough how much I enjoyed these shots. Needless to say they have tempted me to return to your blog! (Thanks for visiting mine a few days ago.)
@Greg: yes, they do, and yes, it’s Hitchcockian indeed! The sound is incredible as they settle for the night. I hope to put together a small film of them, if I get the chance, but it might take a little while.
@Kit: Thank you – I hope you had a lot of fun for your celebrations, I know we did
@Geoff:- you are welcome!
@James: I can imagine that starlings must wreak havoc as an invasive species – here where their numbers have seesawed, It’s a beautiful sight to see so many. There are plenty of people in the UK who don’t like their tendency to swamp the bird table, but I’m not one of those
@Lana: Oh, it’s an absolutely gorgeous carousel, it would break my heart if it fell into disrepair!
@Lydia: I’m glad you enjoyed them, and I hope you do come back again – if I ever write another post
I didn’t know there was a Brighton beach in NY, this one is in the UK. It has a twin – what fun!
lovely picture diary…your photography continues to amaze me.
henry
I was relieved to know that you are in the UK and here’s why. For the life of me I didn’t remember how beautiful the carnival area was at Coney Island, which my friend made me walk to from Brighton Beach. It all kind of merged together in my tired tourist mind! In any case, the carnival at Coney Island certainly is NOT like what your pictures show of your Brighton Beach! Both are picturesque, but yours is much lovelier.
Here’s a link about the NY one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton_Beach
@Lydia:- Ah, so I guess you were thinking “oh, I must have missed that part” when you saw the pics, I know how it is when you are doing the tourist rounds! Thanks for sending that link, the US version of Brighton beach is fascinating, and to think I never knew it existed till now. UK’s Brighton is a strange place, it’s recently been gentrified (it used to be considered a little seedy) but even so it’s still got a lot of that seaside town pleasure seeking vulgarity and is all the better for it as far as I’m concerned…bring on the vulgarity!
I have heard of Coney Island though, and just googled for pictures. It looks fabulous, a little like Blackpool in the UK.
@Soulmerlin:- thank you and hello! I’ve been neglecting you… hopefully not for too much longer
Your photos are really lovely. Keep them coming!
Beautiful shots of Brighton.
That was a really excellent post. All of the pics were wonderfull or even better. The flockj of birds above the pier was a great catch.
Wow this is amazing make over, very professional, well done and not shame we all do it at some point. I like your photography also, the beach is beautiful so mystic. Thanks for sharing, Anna
@Artemis:- Thank you… I’ll try to!
@jameshigham:- Thanks!
@Chrome:- thanks chrome, I hope to share more starling pictures soon
@Anna, what a lovely surprise to see you here! Thank you for the vote of confidence, I needed to hear it. The beach was just so beautiful that whole day, we hardly moved at all it was so lovely to be there