Last day in Dorset Charmouth/Lulworth sept 20/21 2014

Well today is our last full day in Dorset :(   the weather is foggy/misty , basically crap!
We are going to Charmouth , the well known fossil hunting beach. the dogs can have a walk and you never know, might even find a fossil!

                 We have parked next to the fossil museum ,    it is very interesting inside :)

                    Now time to walk the Jurassic Duo , it is their last day under this name    lol

                                                      Go Fetch ................  spladoosh!

                                  Watch out for the big wave Cheste........ Toooo late!!!!!

                                                                      Almost got it Mol :)

                                                           Haha  they are having fun.
 

                                                           Spladooosh............... Poor chester :(

                                                                 He got the ball anyhow :)



                                     Time to dry off as we look for fossils, unsuccessfully :(

        Its still very murky , what a shame as tomorrows forecast is superb, when we have to go home!

                         Jan has stayed in the car with the dogs, as they cant go on the other beach.
                        Walking along the beach looking for Ammonites ,  but i cant find anything :(

                                                                     Rushing water     lol

 I have given up looking, and am making way back to the car now , wonder if Jan has finished her book yet? 

It is now  late afternoon , infact its 6.30 and starting to get dark , and we have decided to take a last walk down to Lulworth Cove,  over the headland from Durdle Door ..

             The steep path down to the Village , going to be dark when we come back up here!!!!

    7 o clock , and we are eating chips in Lulworth Cove , these are the best chips i have ever had!
                                                           Starting to get quite dark now.

 A walk to the view point overlooking the cove , its too dark to photograph now, this was shot at iso 3200.

                                 Now for a long walk back in the dark:(   home tomorrow!

                 I just knew i should have got up early to shoot sunrise!!!!!!!!   bloody hell im crap!
look at the weather this morning, and we have to pack up and go home , but first i take Moll for a walk and a last few images of the "Door"

                                                     Look at Mollsters long thin shadow!!!

                                                                   Wow!    amazing light :)

 Its been a wonderful week photographing Durdle Door in different weather conditions, these images are different again .

                         Huge big blue skys and glorious warm early morning light on the grasses :D

                                              My last image , Durdle Door i will return :)

Durlston Wasp Spiders and Last Durdle Door Sunset 19th sept 2014

Today I'm going back to Durleston Country Park to find some more Wasp Spiders , it has been drizzling with rain all morning so we haven't been out , but has dried up enough this afternoon , Jan is staying back in the caravan with the dogs while I go on my own.
Arriving after the 30 minute drive i make my way into the meadow to look for the spider i found the other day , but no sign of it.............      so   where to look 

After about 10 minutes i have found one , nicely siting in her web , i take a few phone shots first which show a bit more of the habitat around her.

Now  , to get down in the undergrowth and take a series of frames to focus stack to give larger depth of field.  its a bit wet down here :(

                                                       9 frames @f7 iso200  handheld.

 Phone shot :)

I have now found a couple more , in very difficult positions to photograph unfortunately.  this one is much bigger than the others but i cannot get any decent angle to shoot from , it is up against a bramble thicket.    

     Quite like this angle , shows how Fat she is :D   must be close to laying an egg sac presumably.

I have found another couple but are not in  better positions ,so i have gone back to the first one for a few more shots. The light is almost from behind left, so i am having  to shoot closer to prevent blown out background on the left side. It is really hard shooting sequential frames to focus stack, as the web keeps moving in the slight breeze! 


   I am  really struggling with the low light level , the image stabiliser helps a bit on the 100mm L macro lens , many frames are blurred .  using a tripod would be too difficult to get close enough without hitting the web, and with the breeze probably not much help either as would be using slower shutter speeds.

                                                          12 frames @f7.1  iso200

This is the area i have been finding them in , the bigger stronger stemmed plants being favoured to spin the webs in compared to the shorter floppy grass which is out in the open areas.

     There are loads of these Orb Weavers , huge ones at that :)

      3 frames focus stacked.

                                                                       Yay , another Waspy
                    but impossible to photograph except from this angle , looking straight down on it!

The grass around most of these spiders has been flattened to various amounts, so other photographers must have been shooting them over the last few days.  I don't think there are too many here , i have now searched the hedge row on one side of this field and found nothing except Orb weavers and smaller species.   So back to searching the previous area ,  have now found 8 in total so far and have almost just walked into this ones web stretched across a gap in the brambles!    a good one to shoot from the underside :)             Superb!


                         5 frames focus stacked @f5.6 to give better background seperation.

               I have just found a cracker!    in a great 3/4 position :)  her web is a bit broken though!

                       15 frames focus stacked!    and still missed a few leg tips  Arghhhhhhhhhh

Beautiful back lit Waspy :D     7 frames focus stacked @f7.1  iso 250 as breeze is strengthening.

I have continued looking but no more to be found, and i have filled a memory card with 400 frames , so I'm happy to leave now :)

After dinner  , time to walk back down to the beach for sunset. after half an hour  the light is looking glorious , a misty horizon with soft deep cloud mass over the bay and colour over the cliffs , but it doesn't last very long!   

Its gone flat!   never mind, i have shot some wonderful sunset images this week in Dorset here at Durdle Door. tomorrows forecast is rubbish so this will be the last sunset image.

After dark i have another go at shooting stars , it has come over misty and the yellow floodlights in the caravan park have filled the misty sky ! 

 

Only one more day left now :(

Old Harrys Rocks, Kimmeridge Bay and Man-o-War bay sept 18th 2014

Today we are going to visit "Old Harrys Rocks"   which are on the point at Studland and Ballard Down.   it is HOT today cant believe its September!
A good walk from the car park along the cliff top and we eventually arrive at Old Harry Rocks , the Chalk pillars are called the "Pinnacles"

                                               Mollster is panting and posing, but looks rather hot!

             It is a stunning location, would love to shoot a sunrise here, Never going to happen  lol
Jan and Chester are on the point opposite .

                            Chester is panting also!  he really doesn't like the heat, never has  .

                                                                   Mollster and Me :)

                                                Chester doesn't like posing, unlike Mol :D

                                                     Jan has just shot this on her phone :)
                                                             I as always, Missed it!!!!!!!!

                     Looking towards Durleston Head in the distance where we were the other day.

 
       This was a tricky shot to get , bright sun from the left is a nightmare , but the shot looks good:)
                                                                              Jan shot me   lol

Time to go back now , a nice walk across Ballard down and back to the car park , next to a pub for lunch and a drink :)                



               Time to head to Kimmeridge Bay now , a very well known fossil hunting area.

Going down onto the Stony beach , the tide is right up and I am going to shoot a few long exposures , but first a view down the bay from the bottom of the steps near the car park.

 

                                                           43 Seconds  , f16  iso 100

               I am walking  up to the tower on the point opposite , but the views are a bit hazy :(

                                                               Sun in the other direction :)

Back to the caravan now , and an early evening walk down to the the Door.   , as we walk along the path above "Man-o-war" bay, the low evening  sun lights up the grasses and the bay momentarily.  I am lucky to be on the spot to get this image :)

 

 

 

 A few minutes later we are looking down across the bay and the light has changed completely , still a beautiful sea colour and increasing cloud is adding to the image :)

Clouds are getting darker, think this is not going to be a good sunset tonight , but the last 10 minutes of great light make up for lack of colour in the sky.

                        The sun sets in the distance over Weymouth behind thickening cloud .

                                  A bit of sky colour and interesting cloud formations :)

    Colours all but gone now, what a shame  , now to make our way back up the steep path to the top.

 

 

Late in the evening I have come outside down out of the park to try some star images , this is a stack of 18 frames, think I need to shoot a lot more frames to get startrails.