Day 13.242: Birds at the beach (evening edition)

Some of what we saw on our walk on Friday evening were the usual suspects (although it seems a shame to refer to an osprey as if it is a humdrum sight, here with a cormorant and a family group of gulls:

It's always a surprise to see non-coastal birds at the water's edge. Previously crows have surprised us - this time some mallards:

but the most interesting (to me) were these birds seen swooping acrobatically overhead. There were quite a few of them and we suspected that the white patches on the wing would make them identifiable even if my photos (of fast moving birds in low light) were not that great. We were correct on all accounts! They are - appropriately enough - common nighthawks.