Black and White Wednesday

Last Wednesday I managed to drag myself out of the comatose state of exhaustion I have spent most of my recent days off in, for long enough to get out into the countryside for a walk. It has been too long. Too long without hearing birds, and feeling mud underneath my feet and TOO LONG WITHOUT TAKING PHOTOS!

So what that it was raining and cloudy and dark…that just gives an excuse to take some photos in black and white!

 

I’m thinking of entering this next photo into Wildlife Photographer of the year…

 

I mean, if this photo can win because it ‘captures the essence of the hare’ could you say that I was capturing the essence of the pheasant?! (image from here)

Birthday Fun at Blwch Nant yr Arian

Top 5 Photographic Memories – Wildlife

You have probably noticed that I love wildlife photography. I love the challenge it poses because it’s often so unexpected and you only get a few seconds in which to catch something special. Josh and I try and get out into the countryside as much as possible and as a result so many of our wonderful memories hinge on wild places and wildlife. It’s wonderful to have some photos to help us treasure those memories.

1. Dolphins in Pembrokeshire. June 2008

 

This isn’t a particularly good photo but it just reminds me of fulfilling one of my ‘do before you die’ wishes. While camping in Pembrokeshire we took a boat out about 23 miles into the Irish sea and eventually came across a pod of dolphins which swam and jumped around the boat for about forty minutes. It will be something that I remember for the rest of my life.

2. Starlings in Aberystwyth. February 2005

 

During the Autumn and Winter months thousands of starlings roost underneath the pier in Aberystwyth. If it’s raining the starlings will quickly swoop underneath the supports, but if the weather is fine they will mass together in their thousands and perform amazing acrobatic air displays. This photo reminds me of eating fish and chips while watching one of these displays with Josh when he came up to visit me when I was at University. We have only been going out for 8 months and hated being apart. That week we spent together was very special.

3. Ynys Hir Lizard. June 2008

 

This was taken on one of the first proper trips I had out with my new canon SLR last year. I had to crawl so slowly to try not to scare the lizard and managed to snap two frames before it darted away. I doubted whether either would be any good as I had been balancing on one leg, but amazingly this one was great and sent me into a bookeh induced euphoria for the rest of the day. I will always remember that day as we saw so much good wildlife without even looking for it.

4. Woodmouse in Wiltshire. November 2008

 

I know, a woodmouse can’t exactly be described as a top wildlife spot, but what is special about this one is that I managed to share the experience with my young Nephew. We were lagging behind the rest of the group on a walk when I heard a scuffling in a nearby hedge. We carefully moved closer and saw this little chap just sitting there. We managed to get very close and then just crouched there watching. I could tell my Nephew was holding his breath and was spell bound. Very special.

5. Butterfly. Aberystwyth

 

I just like this photo, and it reminds me of all the hot summer days that I have spent lying in fields of long grass and wild flowers, staring up at the sky while butterflies flit around me.

Pubs, Elephants and Bogs

Yesterday Josh and I went for a nosey around Tregaron, and a very nice day it was too.

I had heard there was an elephant grave there so I was very excited. Apparently in 1848 ‘Batty’s Menagerie’ visited Tregaron. One of the elephants quenched its thirst in the local river, but unfortunately then died due to lead poisoning, and was buried in a field behind the local hotel.

Unluckily for me all I could find was a big stone (I’m not sure if it was meant to be a grave stone or not), unluckily for you it wasn’t worth a photo.

However I did get some nice photos on our subsequent walk around Cors Caron, which is a large raised bog system near Tregaron. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area, although I did do my knees in crawling around on the boardwalks trying to get the photos, so remember your knee pads if you’re planning to do the same!

This is what we end up doing most of the times we go for a 'walk'. The perils of living with a bug enthusiast!

Moth Trapping (continued)

…So, as I was saying, on Monday night about 10pm Josh and I headed out to do some moth trapping. Josh got the trap for his 21^st birthday and up until now we haven’t had much chance to use it.

For the uninitiated, a moth trap consists of a UV emitting light which attracts moths (scientists are still debating the reason for this) into a funnel from which they can’t escape. You can then record them at your leisure before letting them go unharmed.

Josh quickly got to work setting up the trap, while I – as his glamorous assistant – sat and watched, eating crisps, drinking tea and trying to convince myself that I wasn’t getting freaked out by sitting in a dark wood in the middle of the night.

However, lets be honest, I have a completely overactive imagination and could see axe murderers or marauding forest monsters around every corner.

And so we waited for moths to arrive…and we waited…and we waited. I was getting bored and as a result the axe murders and monsters were increasing by the minute.

In the end we gave it up as a bad job and headed back to the car. While we were packing the stuff away we saw a few bats flitting around our heads and stopped to watch them. However, we soon realised that there weren’t a few bats flying around. They were everywhere. Hundreds of dark shapes flapping around our heads. The air was reverberating with their wing beats.

It was obvious that we were near a roost and soon located it in the roof of a nearby building.

There are at least 6 in this picture...

We later found out that this is one of the biggest bat colonies in Wales, but we had discovered it all by ourselves and at the moment we were all alone, in the middle of the night, having one of the best wildlife experiences of our lives.

We sat there with our torch on ‘fog mode’ (it seemed to disturb the bats the least) and watched as hundreds of flitting shapes materialised in our torch beam. Occasionally one would land on the wall and climb up into the roof, and then we would get a really good view.

Compared to other mammal species, we know very little about bats, but we think that these bats are Soprano Pipistrelles. Can anyone confirm or correct this please?

Such an amazing find, we will definitely be going back. Just ironic that we chose that area to moth trap…no wonder there were none around!

Staff Fun

Monday was our annual staff day out, which is always looked forward to with a mix of trepidation and hilarity.
This year we went to ‘King Arthur’s Labyrinth’ which didn’t really help quell the over-excited among the group*.

*The Children's Worker

It was, as expected, hilarious.

You’re taken into ‘the past’ by a mysterious cloaked man on a boat into some underground caves and made to walk around in the dark with only a few small lamps dotted around while you’re told some of the lesser known legends of King Arthur . One of which involved a head in a box…

 

I can't really remember was this was about

Most of us regressed back into childhood happily…

The we headed back to Aber to my boss’ house for a BBQ. Her husband is a butcher and we had pretty much every meat you could think of. SOOO good! Sorry I don’t have any photos, I was too busy stuffing my face.

Then, in the evening Josh and I headed out to do some moth trapping, and I had one of the best wildlife experiences of my life.
Unfortunately I have guests coming over in an hour and I need to start preparing food. Check back tomorrow and I’ll tell you all about it. For now, here’s a taster…see if you can work out what we saw that was so amazing…

Answers on the back of a postcard please...

Isn’t nature amazing?!

This is one of the long horned moths. I just thought I would post a photo because I had never seen one before today and I wanted to share the joy! Don’t know how it manages to fly with those things waving around!

Ants in your pants!

We visited Yarner Wood on Dartmoor today. Even though I grew up on Dartmoor I have never visited the reserve before. My only memory of it is when it was almost destroyed by a huge fire twelve years ago, which was luckily stopped just before it reached the woodland. We lived miles away but we could still see the leaping flames right over the horizon. I was convinced we were going to be burnt in our beds so eventually had to be sent to my room with the curtains closed!!

Today everything was bursting with spring beauty.
However, you couldn’t look up at the canopy for too long without looking down to find your legs covered with ants! There are loads of nests throughout the woodland and that meant in places the paths were crawling with the insects, which made me paranoid for the whole day as I was sure I had ants up my trouser legs!

We then drove up onto the moor and climbed a very cold and windy Tor. On the top we found two letterboxes, which are an old fashioned version of geocaching. It’s basically like treasure hunting – you just follow clues to try and find boxes hidden all over the moor which contain a rubber stamp and a book which you sign. It’s good fun, and often leads you off the beaten track and into some of the most beautiful areas of Dartmoor.

 And then it was off to Widecombe-in-the-moor for a Devonshire cream tea!