Five spotted shags!!

Please sing as if it was the Twelve Days of Christmas.

I have never seen five spotted shags at the estuary before. The two I focused on at right have their breeding plumage with spots showing through, the other three their usual brown. The tide was coming in and they had to keep hopping higher on the rocks.

The extra shows one having his say. He may be calling for a mate or competing. The spotted two did some beak and neck twining.

Then over the road in the inner estuary were a whole flock of shags on the island which was fast getting covered in water too. I think these may be the Little Shags Lizellen blipped a while back. They look too small to be Pied Shags and I have never seen Pied ones here.
(Lizellen much better today and will be back in due course.)