A rare sighting at Kenfig Nature Reserve!!!!

Well its always the way - luck is such a significant factor in getting that great shot, and they are few and far between. We headed down to Kenfig Pool and nature reserve just outside Pyle, to take a look around the amazing network of sand dunes, natural lake and wetlands

.The area itself is beautiful, and its hard to believe its nestled behind Port Talbot steelworks! The orginal Kenfig village dates back to medieval times but was resettled further inland due to the encroaching seas. Much of the original village is now hidden under the dunes. The cormorant sunning itself in the picture is sitting on part of the village remains.

Anyways i took a few shots, including one of a cow licking a fence post as if it was a 99 !! Anyone know why - cleaning its tongue maybe? So we ventured down to one of the great hides there and sat patiently thinking it was going to be one of those long quiet days where the wildlife sticks two fingers up at you ! After only 20 minutes of jeeping watch on the reedbeds, a Bittern - one of the rarest and shyest wading birds in the UK - slowly skulked from one reedbed to another, and only about 25ft away. The camera was set up correctly, lens cap off and the big 500m Sigma bursting to go.....!

Well i got 3 or 4 stormers of this extremely rare bird - this one is undoubtedly a migrant fleeing the cold northern climes, as there are only around 70 breeding males in the UK - mainly in Lancashire and Anglia.

This sad git was buzzing all day, and we finished off with a stroll around the lake looking at the beautiful autumn colours, and a final shot of a Magpie guiding us on the right path to the car park.

Happy Days! Later......Stu

A quick blog from a very quiet Wetlands!

Ah well - you win some you lose some. There are certain days where nothing goes right. I spent a full day at the wetlands and the wildlife just didn't show. Despite a good few hours hours in the Peter Scott hide, the most dramatic moment was an lumbering Heron sending the Godwits up in the air briefly.

I waited patiently for the Kingfisher but it only appeared briefly skimming quickly across the water leaving a blue flash, and avoiding a number of perches where they are known to sit and fish. It was a little windy today so that water wasnt too still, which isn't good for the old KF's. Instead i just watched the Little Grebe and the Greylag Geese before heading home after a pretty uneventful day.

Better luck next time eh........................... Stu

Egrets and a close call with a Sparrowhawk !!

Hi all,

Its been a while but its good to be back. Been so busy with work that i havent had much of a chance to get out, but yesterday i managed to get up to WWT Llanelli for a few hours with the beast - my brand new Sigma 150- 500 Lens. Still very much a budding photographer but at least i looked a pro - right? :)

It was nice and quiet up there so i had the chance to settle in a few of the hides and experiment. Just for you pros, the pictures have been cropped and sharpened so when you click on the thumbnail they may well look a bit grainy due to ISO levels combined with shutter speeds - OK !!!

Theres a lot of little egrets up there at the moment which are a beautiful bird - very much like a Heron but snow white. They fly really beautifully with their gangly legs dangling from the sky - more akin to a stork delivering a baby !!

I headed of to the Peter Scott hide overlooking one of the lagoons, and all seemed quiet. Then in flew a couple of black-tailed Godwits, a little like a Curlew but with a very straight beak. A guy id passed on the way to the hide said that a sparrowhawk had been seen in the area, and after about an hour it shot out from the woods sending ducks, moorhens and every other bird diving for cover. Unfortunately it happened so fast that i was shooting in aperture rather than shutter priority. This is the best shot i got which aint bad but could have been soo much better :( Awesome to see though.

Also a few dragonflies around and after much frustration i got a half decent shot of a Migrant Hawker to finish the day. Hopefully i'll be out with the new lens soon and some more shots.

Later... Stu

Boscastle and Beyond - A week in North Cornwall

Hello again!

Well the two of us are just back from a beautiful week in Boscastle in North Cornwall, where the weather was absolutely amazing! This is the beautiful scenic village that was devastated by a flash flood on the 16th August 2004, but has now been rebuilt and is as quaint as ever. Boscastle is a small harbour village that orginally thrived on the fishing trade, and the slip is still home to many lobster boats.

This is a great location to explore the beautiful Cornish coast and the week was indeed varied. First we ventured on the Boscastle trail - a 6 mile circular route that takes you through the beautiful Vallency Valley and Minsters wood. Lots of wildlife around this part, and as we sat among the sheep eating our lunch, i got my best shot yet of a Buzzard launching itself from a farm fence.

Only three miles down the road is the awesome castle at Tintagel, standing on a huge rocky outcrop overlooking some beautiful cornish coves, which i had to have a dip in. This time of year is the warmest the water gets, but it was still bloody nobbling! However not as cold as bathing under in the waterfall plunge pool at St Nectans about a mile away, which was freezing but an awesome experience.

If you're outdoorsy there is loads to get up to in this part of the world, and for sea kayaking its a dream, however there were strong offshore winds all week so we just paddled around the gorgeous little harbour at Port Gaverne, where we diced with death as a lobster boat hurled pots at us from out of nowhere!

As for the rest of the week well its was about good food (although im cornish pastied-out), a couple of beers in the sun and exploring the coastal paths of cornwall. We did venture down to Padstow but it was VERY touristy, which is appealing to neither of us, but a lovely village nonetheless. Rick Stein has totally taken over the village though with bakeries, hotels, gift shops; and i do wonder how the locals feel. £185 per night for B&B at one of his gaffs - er, no thanks!

My first time in Cornwall and loved it. Ive just seen the forecast and its rain all week, just right for heading back to the joys of work!!

Later all....... Stu.

Clyne Park and Swansea Bay

Hello again!

Surprisingly last night turned out be pretty nice, after it emptied down for most of the, so i grabbed the camera and headed out. It was high tide around 7.30, so the sea had pushed in the waders close to shore.

I grabbed a few nice snaps of the oystercatchers heading out over the bay, and even the brown gulls look quite handsome in flight. Leave them and just get rid of the herring gulls i say ! In fine weather its pretty hard to beat the beautiful sweep of swansea bay, with its eclectic mix of families, runners, cyclists all enjoying the sea air, and the classic view of mumbles lighthouse.

Then it was over to Swansea's best park in my opinion - Clyne Gardens with its amazing collection of Rhododendron, Red Cedar, Oak and an many rare species, many of which were introduced into the park by Charles Darwin.

Clyne is great for photography as it offers so many different types of light with its various tree cover and dense canopy. There is areally nice brook which runs from the Japanese bridge and falls, right through the whole park, through a brief reedbed by the Lido at Blackpill and out to sea. I set the camera at a slow shutter speed (around F20 for the camera geeks!) and got some nice ghosting of the water.

Clynes a special place for me. My grandfather was the head ranger here for a number of years, and my mothers ashes are buried under one of the Mountain Ash ( or Rowan) tree. So coming here is always both tranquil and rather sad.

I continued around the park and took a few more snaps as the light faded, one of the famous Japanese bridge.

Before heading for a relaxing beer outside the Woodman, i dug out the macro lens and tried to snap a spider inside a rose. I really couldn't get what I wanted as the bug was so small and tucked away pretty tightly and i couldnt get the right settings in the fading However, using the flash i got this really weird shot, which illuminated the whole body of the spider - almost to the point where you can see through it!!!! A nice cold Stella finished off a chilled-out evening and some OK pics. Later...Stu

Lighthouses and Seabirds: Weekend Pics

Hello all - a mixed weekend, particularly on the photo front!!! I must have taken about 800 pics and had about 5 decent ones, but im assured thats the way of photography, and in my defence i've had the Canon for less than a month. Anyway Friday evening i headed to Bracelet Bay for some big waves and looking for some dramatic shots. Unfortunately the waves didn't appear with a mere force 4 and an offshore wind. Other members of Swansea Camera club got some great shots leaving yours truly pretty envious. Oh well, i was quite happy with this snap of mumbles lighthouse and the threatening purple sky.

Saturday Stef and I headed off to Clyne woods. A strange day weather wise but it soon opened up and was absolutely glorious. If you park at Derwen Fawr by the tip (glamorous eh!) you can join the woods and follow the beautiful brook that flows up towards killay. Leaving the path we were greeted by this chap - a very healthy looking common frog. The river is beautiful and teh sunspots shining off the water were something else.

Well it was back to work today, and this evening i took a quick stroll around Swansea Bay. The weather was looking iffy but the rain thankfully for me (and the camera) held off. I did manage to get a snap of a Ringed Plover. These small wading birds are most amusing and run hell-for leather across the sand!! You literally see a flash of white underbelly until it stops for literally a second to feed on insects, then off it runs again. They really are super fast and have a lot of character. Apologies for the quality but the little blighter was gone as soon as i get anywhere near it !! Later....Stuart

An afternoon at Crymlyn Bog

Hello !! Today I ventured out to another new area that id been intending to explore for some time - Crymlyn Bog in Swansea. It is hard to believe that such a haven exists, slotted between the Tir John Landfill site, and the M4 !!! Moreover, Crymlyn Bog is one of the largest lowland fens in the UK, and is home to a wide array of wildlife from Kingfishers to reed warblers.

Theres a car park at the extreme eastern side of kilvey hill , past the entrance to Tir John. There is a visitor centre but it only opens by request. Greeted by some rather aggressive horses, i head down one of the paths, which leads to a wooden boardwalk, accross the open fen. No sooner do i step on the boardwalk than i startle a huge raptor which im assuming is a buzzard as my spotting skills aint up to scratch yet. I tried to catch it but only managed to get a distant shot of it perched. Please someone buy me an 600mm telephoto!!

From there i headed off to explore the rest of the bog and came across this Chaffinch, who sat unaware of me long enough to get a pretty decent shot. This really is an amazing place, and really quite weird to be watching a bird of prey just behind Fabian Way.

I sat and had lunch and tried to get a shot of the Emperor Dragonfly that buzzed around the bog, not an easy task. Pleased that i had the rare opportunity to photograph one at rest a couple of weeks back at the wetlands centre. As i headed back past the touchy horses (look at the menace in his eye! I took a photo of a buttercup with my new macro lens and really quite please with the results.

This is a great place to visit, and would be even better if they put a hide down here (listening Countryside Council for Wales????? ;0) ) Later....Stuart.