Coastal Bird Spotting ID

Went out for an early morning walk today and saw these large birds on the end of the pier, just wished i had my fuji with me, was wondering iff anyone can identify them, looked like shags to me, quite large birds, never seen them here before
putting some more up but sure this is the clearest one

[ 16. August 2007, 09:33 AM: Message edited by: rosa ]

 

here are some more

 

I think your right Rosa.

 

seen the shags on the farne islands its only an hour up the coast from here, thats incredible them being on my local pier in cullercoats, never ever seen them here before

 

Rosa,they are a little way away,but Shags often stand like that when they are drying off their wings

Shags are like most sea birds now in that they have spread far and wide in search of food and suitable places to nest.Where I used to live,we even had either Shags or Cormorants,I can't remember which living and breeding on the gravel pits that had been formed after all the sand and gravel had been extracted for housing and road construction.The local fishermen were going mad because they reckoned all their fish was being eaten by the birds and they wanted them killed.When you consider how far in land I live it is an achievement to get such birds,but the Nene Valley is one of the migration routes for a wide range of birds.We even had an European Eagle Owl living in the gravel workings at one point living of the feral pigeons until it got it's self run over on the A45 Dual Carriageway :rolleyes:

 

kandy, the pier is quite away from the bay and only wished i had taken my fuji, so i had to make do with the zoom full out on my sony.
being an hour away from the farne islands i guessed it must be what they are.were the birds were standing the water goes over the top of the pier as it was high tide when i was there early this morning.
maybe they were on their way to the farne islands and decided to stop off in cullercoats, who knows