Welsh Highlights

After much procrastination, I have actually decided to keep this site as my main one. To mark this occasion, I have decided to start catching up and this is the first of a few posts doing just that. I am going to start with exhibiting the highlights from a July visit to North Wales. There was a few sites visited during the week; each with some target photographic subjects. 

First up was a trip to the tern colony at Cemlyn Bay, Anglesey. Light was good with very thin whispy white cloud so conditions for capturing flight shots of white birds appeared promising. After studying the bird's movements as they left the colony, headed out to sea and returned with fish, I positioned myself in a suitable position to capture returning individuals with food. The session produced a number of images; of which this one was my favourite. 

Later in the week, with an excellent weather forecast, we decided to try our luck with a bird of prey that has long been on my wanted list; the Red Kite. The site we decided to visit was Bwlch Nant Yr Arian reserve near Aberystwyth. Whilst Gigrin Farm is the more famous Kite feeding site, Bwlch Nant Yr Arian provided a more rounded prospect for some other birds and potential macro subjects in an area of mid Wales I have rarely visited. All the birds there are wild but they are fed at 2pm or 3pm (dependant on the time of year) every day and this provides a fabulous opportunity to watch these birds at close range. The weather was glorious; wall to wall sunshine, however, this provided a photographic nightmare; in fact it was probably the hardest session to expose I have encountered as a photographer. It might be just me but I thought black and white birds in strong sunlight were hard, however, no subject has ever received such a wide range of camera settings and frowns of disappointment than the Kites did on that afternoon. The birds are also in moult in mid-summer and not in the best of condition so choosing the better conditioned individuals added to the challenge. After shear perseverance, I had a handful of new images for my collection plus a little bit of sunburn thrown in for free.

Last but certainly not least was the ability to capture a few new macro images including two brand new species and one new species for me in the UK. During the mid Wales trip, I found Small Red Damselfly (top image below) and Black Darter (middle image below). The last trip of the break offered the opportunity to photograph Grayling on the Great Orme, north Wales (bottom image below).