White bellied Cormorant ?

On Christmas Eve, (what day was that again? I'm lost again!) I went out for a quick tour of the backroad to the bay. I had little time, yet I did want to get out. Even so, I stopped for a minute or two for only one or two pictures. I've always been mad about the colour of Gorse. It is so vibrant! Only a few people were about on the road, but the weather was nice; it was mild, a light breeze yet this grey cloud which had covered us all this time was still overhead and giving me this claustrophobic feeling. Does any of yuo sense that too? That without change in light/sky, you start to feel caught in the middle of it without a way out.

At the bay I spotted a Cormorant, which sat waiting for the new tide to complete filling up the bath while it was sitting on a bit of seaweed, flanked by a Redshank.

Something was odd about it, but only after a bit did I really spot its white belly; and such a Cormorant I have not seen before which is why it looks a bit strange. A Cormorant should be black all over, right? And the Shag is the smaller one of the two. However I have yet to hear about this one. With an awful vertical reflection from the trees and a shine on the water, photography was difficult.
As I expected, the Cormorant started to do its funny take off, which always reminds me of Swans taking off while walking over water.

A Grey Heron was looking in the mirror with neck stretched forward to check its make-up and feather-do, I guess. What do you want, it would be Christmas Day the following day!. Last year I'd seen a couple of Grey Herons in similar positions, trying to swallow something which had been stuck in the middle somewhere.


The "white-belly" Cormorant in front of the church of Ireland, at Dunmanus Bay:



Also in and at the bay, a Grey Heron and a Hooded Crow, one of five flying above me with this one settling in a tree ahead of me and allowing me a very quick and careful picture. Although Overcast overhead since a few weeks now, and also on this day, there were nasty vertical reflections behind the Cormorant as well as the Grey Heron, resulting in me having to change the time of day in the image of the Heron and size in the case of the Cormorant.
Meanwhile, I've been told that it concerns a young bird; a Cormorant of 6-8 months old. Thank you very much, David Gains!)
I sm really delighted having been told that it concerns a new generation here.




In my garden, a Pied Wagtail, a male Chaffinch, a male Bullfinch, a female Chaffinch and Coal Tit: