Editing

 

Well, since my return from Skomer last week it`s been head-down editing in the evenings (after a number made it to the "not-quite-there" bin). It was nearly all Puffin from the trip, apart from some gulls, but the challenge for me was to try and make shots photogenic in composition.

I did make some rather shaky, handheld video - not too easy with a heavy Sigma 150-600mm lens, and only have some brief clips put together and slowed down. 

Next year I might take the tripod to work on this, although I don`t think I could practically take anything else up those steps on the island!

I first went to Skomer this year back at the end of May, and last minute decided to use my then-new Canon R6 mkii, which I had only partially set up as i`d bought it only the previous afternoon!! Mirrorless being different to DSLR, it was a test then, but this time around I found the camera pretty bang-on, despite the harshness of lighting. Nearly all the time the eye focussing hit the spot, and with some shots I took, the ISO override was really responsive . 

It`s still early days in terms of using the full potential of the camera.

Lots to do, and lots to learn - all when there`s time of course.

Back on Skomer

My second and final trip for the year to Skomer Island, Pembrokeshire yesterday, having seen a spare slot for a 10am sailing. The plan was to make the visit before the Puffin leave in August, and hopefully have another chance at tracking down one of the Short Eared Owl that had been nesting on the island. 

The forecast looked good, so I headed off at 7am to head West, and be there in plenty of time to `check in` at Lockley Lodge by 9am. 

With checking in done, it was good just to spend the next hour at Martins Haven, listening to the lapping of the water, and absorbing the atmosphere ready for the day ahead. Of course, I was the only person that looked as though I lived in the woods, and just about everyone else in the summer clothes, bright colours and clothes.

A `lumpy` crossing across Jack Sound to the island followed, and then of course the challenge (to me at least) of climbing up those 84 or whatever steps from the boat landing place up to the Warden talk area. A quick word with warden (" are the Short Eared Owls showing well?"), and I then knew the day might not go to plan - the Shorties had gone, bar one sighting since he previous Saturday. 😞

Deflated that the main purpose for my trip had slipped away (yet again), I headed to the Farmhouse & North Valley area anyway just in case, this being where you can have increased chances of possibly seeing them. A good place to have an initial cuppa, cheese roll or two, and look around feeling it`s so good to be back. As it happened, I did actually see one so far in the distance the moment I took my eyes from binoculars to camera, I lost sight of it. Couldn`t locate it again with my bins, so it might have been leaving the island.

Part 2 of the plan, and knowing that all the Puffin would be gone by the first week or two of August, I headed to the Wick in the hope of catching some final "sand eel" shots. The place was empty, all but the gulls and, so I was told along the far edge of the Wick, a family of Peregrine. I knew the Guillemots and Razorbills would have gone, but with no Puffin the whole area was eerily quiet and a bit surreal.

With the plan then to return close to the area above the landing place, where Puffin were when I got to the island, I took the track to North Haven. There, a still-good contingent of Puffin seemed to be hanging around, no sand eels being brought in, and (after spending some time there) not a glimpse of a Puffling. At least finally some photography!

The rest of my stay on the island was best used at North Haven and back closer to the cliff above the Warden talk area. There was, to me anyway, a real atmosphere of wondering what lies ahead for these birds, all of which will split up for a solitary life in the stormy seas of the Atlantic and possibly Arctic Circle for the following eight months. Lovely birds, photogenic but fragile.

It was a great day on the island, despite the disappointment with the owls.

Looking forward to 2026.

Walk this Saturday

 

It`s the third Saturday in the month this weekend, which means it`s "Walk with the Warden" time at WWT Llanelli. I`ll be involved in this again, along with other volunteers Diana and Jim, and it looks like a pleasant enough day weather-wise (not as scorching as last weekend).

Last month I "clocked up" my 20th anniversary as a volunteer there, and the WWTW is just one of the things i`m involved in. 

The walks always seem well supported, but even if just a few turned up we would still go out and about.

If you`re interested in the walk, meet by the Information desk inside the Centre at 11.30am

Jim Lea - RWOS

 

Great to see Jim Lea re-working his Slade track "Radio Wall of  Sound", which was a hit for them back in 1991.

This has been released this week, and hopefully will go high in the Heritage Chart,

Swansea airshows

 

After a good spell of weather, it all changed for Saturday 5th July, with sweeping drizzle showers, low cloud, nippy wind and often poor visibility. In the end, airshow only had five displays, everything else was cancelled.

Sunday 6th July looked better, and did brighten up a bit. Everything that was billed to display too part, apart from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF). The Red Arrows opened the show, the Typhoon closing. However, it has to be said that apart from those two, one of the best displays came from the Wing walkers. Great display, fairly close to the crowd line, and that lovely spluttering noise of the engines!

A good weekend all in all.

Juvenile Kingfisher from the Peter Scott hide

 

Just a very quick video of two short clips taken under different lighting conditions the other day. 

This young female was one of two young, a male and a female, that fledged in mid May from their breeding area on the Reserve

All very rough and hand-held at the time.