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.

Cwm Haffes and Henrhyd Falls

Yesterday we took the day off and headed off to the Brecon Beacons, to check out the Cwm Haffes Gorge. This is a sandstone gorge that carries the Haffes river from the Fan Hir ridge. We parked at the roadside just passed Dan Yr Ogof, and as we did a beautiful red kite circled above us. I rushed to dig out the camera, but as soon as lens cap came off, he flew a further 100 ft into the air. Not having a 600mm lens (and unlikely i ever will given the cost) i managed to get a nice silhouette nevertheless.

We followed the Haffes up to Ty Henri farm, seeing what we could spot on the way in terms of wildlife. Todays count included a Dipper doing its usual thing of perching on a boulder in the rushing water and a plentiful supply of butterflies around us including the common Large White and a Ringlet (pictured).

As we passed Ty Henri farm we headed uphill ( a fair old pull) to the head of the Cwm Haffes gorge. The going is pretty tough here because of the boggy ground and the tussock grass that hides numerous tributaries just waiting to take an ankle out. After reaching the gorge we took in the view and collapsed for lunch!

Heading back down the gorge we find the Beacons national trail and fight our way through brambles and hawthorn, with the peak of Fan Gyrrich watching over us. As we headed back to the car and made our way back to Neath, we stopped off (no not at a pub!!) at Sgwd Henrhyd (Henrhyd falls), the highest in South Wales at around 90 ft. From the car park its a short but steep walk down to the falls which are pretty impressive. Many attempts were made to capture the falls but this novice couldn't get to grips with his camera settings. Ive included the best shot from the day. From there it was back in the car for a well deserved cold one and an italian !! Later...Stuart

A day at Llanelli Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust

Hi all - well yesterday Stef and I headed up to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, based on the Burry Estuary in Llanelli. I have been meaning to get up there for years, and finally got my backside in gear!! Let me just say at the outset that this place is AWESOME and we both immediately took out annual membership!

I think it was established around 10 years ago and is a fabulous place to visit, especially if like me you are trying to improve your photography skills, and your interested in shooting wildlife (not literally..!). The array of different landscapes are incredible - ponds, pools, reedbeds, scrub, marsh, fresh and saltwater lagoons all attracting various rare wildlife, particularly wading and rare migrants. As soon as you head into the centre check out the sitings board - truly amazinh the range of birds that are living on our doorstep. Of particular interest to me were the birds of prey, with Buzzard, Peregrine, Goshawk and Sparrowhawk all being spotted recently.

If you're into 'Birding' (the trendy modern phrase for a birdwatcher or twitcher) prepared to see some hardcore individuals with lenses that could poke you are eye out at a 100 yards, prob worth around £7000 mark!!! Anyway i trundled along happily with my new Canon EOS 450d, continuing to experiment. Highlights of the day included a great pic of a grey heron (one of my fave birds) spotted from one of the many great hides theyve built there.

Other great spots were beautiful male Emperor Dragonfly, which i managed to capture very luckily as they spend most of their time in the air, even eating on the wing. They are also agressive and territorial so i was pretty pleased with the shot. Amazing creatures and hard to believe they are around 200 million years old. I also got a couple of shots of Damsel flies mating in a 'wheel' as its known, whereby the male hangs off the thorax of the female.

After getting lost in the maze of lagoons we finally found our way back, and happily parted with our cash to join the WWT. I can see us both being regular visitors here as we were really blown away. Packed lunch next time though at £2.80 for a sarnie !! ;0) Later ....Stu

Race for Life, Swansea

Hi - just a quick post to say well done to all those who ran in the race for life, including my girlfriend Stef and her buddy Sue. Amazing turn out at the Waterfront museum, and really moving to see all those people with the names of loved ones and their individual stories pinned to their shirts. Having lost my mother in April to Ovarian cancer it was quite an emotional day, but so positive to see people pulling together for a cause that should not be reliant on handouts.

The winner i think came in at around 17 minutes for the 5 k which is ridiculously fast, but Stef and Sue hit the top 200. Well done girls, and go for a PB next year. Heres some pics of the day. Later....Stuart