Familiar friend becomes photo focus

The annual flock of small waders had returned for their autumn feeding frenzy on the nearby mudflats and amongst the Dunlin, which made up the vast majority of the flock, I was thrilled to find not one but 4 Curlew Sandpipers. (I sensed that more looking and less photography might have yielded even more of this scarcity.) Having used the same 'technique' in previous years, I was keen to get photos simply by walking very slowly towards the flock and concealing my human outline behind the scope and tripod. Once again, this paid off and the flock, as ever, proved remarkably confiding. Occasionally, the birds would take off but rarely if ever was this a consequence of my actions; indeed, at one point it was the sudden appearance of a Hobby overhead, a rare bird around here, that flushed the waders. (I assumed the Hobby was a Peregrine at the time - given the location and frequency with which I'd recoded that species here - until I scrutinised the photos.) In fact, the Hobby and the confiding Curlew Sandpipers, Sanderling, Turnstone and Dunlin entertained me for a good few hours and it all reminded me that good times could be had locally after all, even if such moments are few and far between.