IT'S OBVIOUS...

…why some unimaginative person in the past called them Redshanks (Tringa totanus). Looking for a collective noun, the unlikely selection I came across included "cluster", "contradiction", "fling" and "time step". I think someone's having a laugh. Today they were a huddle of redshanks sheltering from the wind in the lee of the harbour wall.

(****** automatic cropping! Hurry up with the manual cropping, team!)