Normandy: high tide at Utah Beach

Compare this photo with my blip of 29 December 2013. Cold, damp weather, almost no sand to walk on. And the strangest feature of all: other human beings.

On a day like this the growing oysters and mussels on Utah Beach can be counted in their millions - or tens of millions - and the human count is likely to be nil.

Sea birds are also present in their thousands: the small group resorting to flight in this photo consists mainly of turnstones.