Church Bay on Anglesey 25/27 th May 2014

I am on my way to Church Bay on Anglesey on a Saturday evening, the rain is hammering down most of the way  , Jan has been there in the caravan all week and i am joining her for the next 3 days.  as i arrive it is torrential rain and i actually have trouble driving over the slight incline in the campsite field which is a few minutes walk from the beach.  as i arrive Chester goes mad in anticipation :)

Sunday morning is bright blue sky , thank goodness for that   lol    a quick run on the beach with the dogs first

Now we are going to walk the coastal path around the headland , almost straight away i find this Bloody nose beetle :)

                                                 Next to be shot , an escaping lizard  :)

I have been chasing a Wall brown butterfly for ages up and down the narrow muddy path, much to Jan's amusement   lol     i eventually manage to get on the ground close enough for a half decent image   haha

We have come to the next bay around the headland , loads of wild flowers are on the hill side , so Mollster goes and poses in them , good girl .......

         and down into the water for a play and Chester and Mollster get very wet .  bless them

                Having walked back to the caravan in the afternoon, i spend time shooting the birds

                                                                    Great Perch.........

                                      I would Love to know whats on Chester's mind  lol

 After dinner we walk down to see if there is a good sunset this evening ,  its not a good one but got this image using my 10 stop nd filter :)

The next morning it is looking another good day , so we have decided to go to South Stack lighthouse , Jan has never been there.        after a nice drive around the coast road we find both the car parks chock a block, some idiot in a huge camper van is blocking the steep road up to the top car park and some one is trying to direct traffic!      we manage to squeeze into the top main area any how  , and now are walking up the road to the top overlooking the Lighthouse.

                                                i have just spotted a green Tiger beetle :)

                                                                   Mollster posing :)

               and Chester but no idea what he is looking at, the ice creme van is that way Mol says :D

After a walk up over the Headland we head back to take a look at the Birds nesting on the cliffs below Ellins tower.   its a superb view from here :)

                                          and then walking along the cliff path .............

    
                                                                           Big skies :)

              Time to drive back now , later i hope to get better sunset images across Church Bay.
 a few hours later i am walking down to the bay , leaving Jan and the dogs in the van, they will come down a bit later to join me .

all below images i used a 10 stop nd filter to slow the shutter speed down to smooth out the waters surface.


                                                         69 seconds at iso100  f18
    as the tide comes in around me while i am standing on small rocks Ooops  , but the low setting suns is lighting up the cliff face wonderfully :)

                                                             217 seconds iso100 f18

                                                    4 frames combined  40 - 184 seconds
                                          Love how the sun illuminates the foreground rock

                                                                        "Afterglow"

                                                             184 seconds at f18 iso 200

                                The end of a great few days :)     back home tomorrow.

Whixall Dragons and Bugs 18/19 th May 2014

Time for another bug hunt, Dragons hopefully this morning , Whixall moss in Shropshire is my destination and i should be able to see the rare White face darters :)
 parking at the Roundhouse car park i make my way towards the White face darter pools , i soon spot a dungfly which i shoot with the mpe-65 macro lens and then come across.......................

A cold Bee :)     it quite happily warms itself on my finger while i take a series of shots, again with the mpe, resting the lens barrel on my fingers in front of the Bee.

                                             Yay   my first Dragon   a four spot chaser :)

                                        and another one!   they look fairly freshly emerged .

         I have spent ages watching the Dragons flying around the White face darter pools but not managed any pictures of them , until i spot one on a walkway

          another one perched way out in the pool , had to crop heavily even from a 400mm lens shot

i have not seen much else this morning so will go home and go out tomorrow down to the river Dee in search of Demoiselles .


                Early Monday morning i have driven to just upstream of Chester to Aldford on the river Dee , i might find a Clubtail Dragonfly if I'm lucky but its quite windy and think shooting anything is going to be a challenge today!          passing the beautiful bridge, while keeping a look out for the resident Kingfisher i walk down to the field side path ..

          A female Banded Demoiselle , they are really skittish and i just cant get close to them

there are quite a few but i am not getting anywhere near them today :(       a long leg Orb web spider hides under a nettle leaf.

                                                   and a pair of Sawflies mating

I have given up, will drive just down the road to Churton to see if any Hairy dragonflies are in the pool , crossing the field i soon spot a newly emerged Four spot chaser

                                       and then my target species,  Hairy Dragonfly :)

                                 an interesting two mornings shooting Dragons

Two Evenings of Glorious Sunsets may 13/16th

The weather was looking good for the next couple nights so i may as well make the most of them down at New Brighton.      no particular order , just a few of my favorites :)

                                                   Tide coming in with strong wind

                                      Ships Silhouetted against the sunset windfarm

                   I stopped off on way down the promenade on the way home to shoot this afterglow.

 Two days later i was down on the end of the beach over to the right of Perch Rock lighthouse, the tide was just turning and the sun coloured up beautifully with different shades of gold,orange and red.

                          Slight slow shutter to smooth out the tide which had just turned.

                                                             Close up of the windfarm

          45 second exposure as the sun drops below the horizon, as water lapped around tripod legs!

                                                   Perch Rock Panorama after sunset.

Pearls in North Wales 5th May 2014

Its a long bank holiday weekend in Ruthin with Jan and the Terrible Twosome, and hopefully as the weather is much warmer than this time last year. The Pearl Bordered Fritillaries will have emerged up at Eyarth rocks, which is a butterfly conservation site which protects this species of butterfly.
                                          It is a lovely camp site just outside Ruthin.

                                       The Terrible Twosome have settled in ok after the drive :)

it must have been a stunning house when in good condition, such a shame to see it like this now

                                                         a few of the locals are watching us, mother and...

                                                                 Awwwwww   cute :)

the next morning we are heading for Eyarth Rocks , its about 40 minutes walk up into the hills :)   looking a beautiful day for a nice walk even if the butterflies are not there.

                  Taking the bridal way i have just shot this miner bee on a dandylion flower:)

 Heading up the steep path through the woods that will eventually come out at the reserve , the silver birch make a good contrast with the bluebells

                                                    Moll in a sea of Forget-me-Knots :D

Finally we come to the reserve entrance , in the clearings Bracken just starting to come up and bluebells still in flower, would be great to photograph a butterfly sitting on one of those :)

 This is the area where the Pearls should be found , i have a good look while we are walking through but cannot see any butterflies .

 It is quite warm now and the sun is starting to come through the light cloud giving lovely light, If i can find something to shoot!  Jan and the dogs are taking a rest near the top.........while i go for a hunt.

                           After just a few minutes i have just spotted my first Pearl :)   Yay!

This is the area , i have spotted 3 or 4 now and they look like they must have just emerged as they are not flying too far before settling.

                                                     Now to find a nicely perched Butterfly :)

Found one on a Bracken frond, just sitting drying its wings, this will make a perfect subject to photograph:)

        

                                                                           "Perfection"

             moving slightly  i can get out of focus blue bells give a different background colour :)

                 It has flown a short distance with me chasing it and perched halfway up an old stem ,                                                          love the back lit wings :D

                                  
        and now to get the mpe-65 out to do a portrait :)     focus stacked to increase depth of field

                 I'm happy now , so we are continuing the walk and i have just shot this dandy :)

 We are now back to the field after a really good morning walk , agreat avenue of trees and ..........

 

the end of a good day :)

its "Yoda" the sheep :D

 

A normal Lamb :)

                                                                   a magnificent oak.