Norfolk Holiday pt3 Horsey and Happisburgh

This morning we are going to Horsey to see the Windpump and hopefully the seals on the beach, which is a lovely walk across the fields.     The sails are back on after a full restoration that has taken years !

It is blowing a gale!  I guess the approaching storm is getting closer to Norfolk than we had hoped.
Great to see the sails back on, last time we where here they had just been removed.

                           Now to walk across the fields to the shore, its a good half hour walk.

Plenty of Common Darter dragonflies sheltering from the wind all along the path, the drainage ditches must hold thousands of them in mid summer.

On the beach, and the sand is blowing sideways in the strong wind,  it feels like being sandblasted and its stinging on my face.   There is a little bit of shelter behind these boulders, but not much.

There are good numbers of seals, and talking to the warden both harbour and grey seals here, about 200 today but last week double that number.     We had to keep well away, and I didn't bring my long lens  Ooops

                                  Jan got a bit too close and got this shot on her phone.

    Chester has sand blown into his eyes , he is trying to shelter from the wind near the top of beach.

It is actually too painful to stay on the beach any longer , and getting back over the flood defences is causing Jan a bit of trouble   haha

Time to drive down along the coast to Happisburgh now, at least the Terrible Twosome will be able to run on the beach there.     Unfortunately I don't think I will get to fly the drone again today and I think the sunset is unlikely also.

The sea erosion on this beach is amazing, and they have to re build this path down onto the beach every spring after winter storms wash it away.

The cliffs are just washing away constantly, all the buildings along this stretch have long gone into the sea,  it looks very unstable.

                                    This cloud is not looking good for a sunset tonight, Again!
                 And Chester has got covered in sand and mud, he looks like a chicken nugget   haha

                 Luckily our van has an outside shower attachment, so a warm shower for Chester, don't want all that mud in the van after all.

Now time for me to shoot the Lighthouse, it is in the middle of a field right on the cliffs so it is very windy, even hanging my camera bag on the tripod hook I am still struggling to get sharp long exposure images with the Lee big stopper 10 stop nd filter.  Reducing aperture to f8 has reduced exposure enough as a compromise.

The field was recently cut and the stubble remaining actually gives good lead in lines towards the lighthouse.   I don't normally centralise the subject, but this is one of those occasions where it works.

                                                                      5dsr , 17-40 L
                                                                      30 seconds  f8

The end of another great day in Norfolk...………  we are going to Thurne tomorrow for a couple of days.

Norfolk Holiday 2013 sep 8th Horsey windpump & Seals

Sunday morning and a glorious blue sky awaits us as we emerge from the caravan , Horsey wind pump ( windmill) is our destination, its not too far away on the edge of Horsey mere.
arriving at the car park its fairly busy already and i can see the small garden next to the car park where Swallowtail butterfly's are seen earlier in the year , pity we are just a bit late to see them.
walking past the small office/cafe/gift shop a ranger says good morning and mentions the Horsey seal viewing trips he takes, but says its an easy, but long walk over to the coast and the beach , no roads!   we will go later early afternoon we decide.

 we climb up to the top of the tower, where Jan takes this image ,why didn't i think of this?

                                             Great view over to Horsey mere from up here.

                      taking the short walk around to the mere taking images as we go...........

We are now walking across the fields to the coast far in the distance, quite remote so that's probably why the seal population is safe there without too much disturbance.   looking back at the wind pump there is alot of white cloud bubbling up .....

                Arriving at the beach, its superb and great cloud formation adds to the image :)

the dogs go straight in & up pop the seals :)    they are very inquisitive, walk away from the surf edge they disappear!

i can see at least 5 seals , and they are coming quite close to the edge of beach, watching the dogs presumably!

                                 Chester's thinking," hurry up throw the ball in again! "

               look how close the seals are now.   watch out dogs you might get eaten!    lol

Some very dark black clouds have come from behind us, the light is going to be awesome in a few minutes. it has gone very dark overhead but the sun is lighting up the sand :)

here i am shooting the following images.........             no colour adjustments have been made

         cant believe this light now, and i managed somehow to get the ball in the image also :)

                                                    Mollster is covered in sand now   hehe

Time to go now , and it looks like rain approaching in the distance behind the wind pump.  we must get a move on!

                                                                       that is a rain storm! 

we have made it back to the car park and moments after i shoot this image its torrential rain for about 10 minutes

then ........................  moments later            amazing difference in a few seconds

                                        the end of a fantastic day in Norfolk,  or is it???

       the sunset this evening turned out like this, and i went out shooting    continued in next blog

          images shot with canon 5dmk2, 14-40L , 70-300 IS , i-phone & htc1 mobiles