South Wales road trip, is it?

Spent friday driving around Wiltshire, wandering around Shearwater, Langford Lakes and Heavens Gate which was all good, but the weather wasn't exactly great.

However saturday driving around south Wales turned out to be very nice and I managed a whole bunch of wildlife pics, quick location snaps and a couple of arty photos too. (using my new Manfrotto 055 pro-B tripod, which I am very pleased with - quick plug for Camera King who were excellent and sorted out a very fast advanced replacement on the first faulty tripod that arrived).

A swan on Shearwater lake..



Nice close up of a Robin at Cosmeston Lake, nr Cardiff. Looking a little bemused at the sunny UK spring.
Ruins of St. Quintins Castle (14th Century+)

The funky geology at Lavernock beach..






The ancient burial chamber at St.Lythans (click here for info)





Porthcawl beach at sunset..






Ogmore Castle after sundown..

Yellow spring..

With spring popping up loads of yellow flowers around at the moment it was time for a mini challenge. No outstanding shots but I like the curly dandelion.

Lunar Eclipse

Here's my attempt at photographing the cool lunar eclipse that happened last night. Not bad for a first attempt (on digital format), considering I was struggling to stay awake (after sleeping only 3 hours in the car yesterday). Lucky too as it was raining and cloudy either side of the event.

Taken at intervals between 8.30 and 11.20.

Llyn Y Fan Fawr

Another month without a post, I really must get out more! I spent friday night sleeping in the car so I could get into the Brecon Beacons nice and early. It was tiring, but exploring Fan Fawr lake at sunrise was outstanding.

...Some natives (common frogs) getting into the spring spirit..

..a macro shot of some tiny flowers..

..and a very rough panoramic veiw of Fan Fawr (I haven't reinstalled all my software since I got Windows Vista)

Misty Marden

Wales

Spent saturday in the Brecon Beacons, we were going to stay over but decided to scout out where to stay for another visit in a couple of weeks instead. I did manage a quick wander into the wilderness as the sun was falling..

Ice!

Not quite cold enough for wintery scenes, but a rare appearance of some solid ice in these warm winters of late..

A trapped leaf in a patterned frozen pond and difuse sunlight reflecting off frozen flood water near Silbury Hill.

Back in the saddle again..

Short daylight hours and a bit of January fatigue finally overcome. Some photos of a mostly overcast Wiltshire countryside..

More practice..

Sunday sunrise..

Winter Sunflower Field..

Slacking..

Not posted for a while so here are a few more photos...


Autumnal colours at Chew Magna Lake wildlife reserve.


Windows of the 15th century St Mary the Virgin church, Calstone.



Birnbeck pier & sunset, again.

Avebury revisited

Not sleeping well, so I got out to Avebury for another sunrise... unfortunately the rain clouds kind of spoilt the plan. Was a cool walk around Avebury in the rain though. These are two photos that I took, merging multiple exposures in Photoshop to avoid having a dark foreground or over-bright sky (cheaper than ND-grad filters). Not fantastic, but I like them.

Weston-Super-Mare

Off to Weston on saturday, nice blustery weather, stormy clouds and a half decent sunset.





The excellent Birnbeck pier - built in 1867, used in WW2 to research secret weapons, now a grade II listed structure and the only pier in the world to link to an island no less.

More info:

http://www.birnbeckpier.org/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/west/series7/birnbeck_pier.shtml