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!

Enjoying Sunny Wales

My family came to visit

we went to Aberaeron

then we went to New Quay and walked along the coast path

...it lived up to its name of being the best place to see dolphins in the UK (that dot is one!!)

It was a perfect summer's day. The End.

I’ve got measles

Okay…actually I haven’t. But it’s less embarrassing telling people that than having to explain that I actually went out moth trapping without any insect repellent on and now I look like I have been attacked by a marauding toddler with a red marker pen. At least they have faded a bit this morning!

Last night we attempted moth trapping again. After our complete failure last time we figured it could only get better…and thankfully, it did!

We had been given permission by the warden of a nearby forestry commission site (Nant yr Arian if you know the area) to go and trap ‘after hours’ so we set off about ten, and arrived just as the light was dying in the sky.

Nant yr Arian is at the head of a valley and so the view was spectacular. It was one of those moments when the camera really can’t catch the magic of the light over the misty valley floor and the hills behind, with the smell of the woods and heath and the sound of calling of sheep and other night-time creatures.

Then, to top it off a barn owl swooped down to our right (just as I was taking the above photo actually) and flew off up the valley, framed by the orange sky. Beautiful.

Pesky Midges

Then it was down to the moth trapping. Now, I’ve got to be honest – moths aren’t my favourite creatures. Sure, there are some amazingly beautiful moths and it’s interesting to learn more about them, but many are brownish and look pretty much the same as each other to me.

However, I do LOVE how passionate Josh gets about moths and butterflies. He has self taught himself to such a high standard and to hear him getting really excited about little brown moths that most people would walk straight by makes it worth getting bitten to death by midges any day.

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...

Updates and some money making schemes

Firstly, hopefully this will be one of the last times I have to stay late at work to use the internet to update my blog because we should be getting internet in the new flat when we move in next week! Horray! We figured that we can afford it with the new lower rent, and it’s also getting really annoying not having internet at home and having to remember to do everything after work and in my lunch breaks. PLUS, we can watch BBC iplayer which will mean we don’t rent so many films!

Secondly, Josh didn’t get his ideal job. If I had written this 3 hours earlier I would be ranting but I have just about got over the disappointment now. They wanted him to work Sundays, and he didn’t want to work Sundays. We have already been told we are being too picky, but he doesn’t want to be missing church. That’s the decision he has made and he’s sticking to it. I feel frustrated as nothing seems to be going right for us but all we can do is keep trusting that something will come up soon.

In the meantime I have been coming up with some handy moneymaking schemes and as long as we keep to our (tight) budget we should be okay.

As I have mentioned before I would love to be able to make a living by selling my pictures, cards and other crafts. When I was at university I began selling my cards under the name ‘Just Original Creations’. I sold enough cards here and there to make a bit of pocket money for uni but stopped making them during my finals and when we first got married due to lack of time.

Now, as money is tight we are thinking of every way possible to make money and so I decided to revive Just Original Creations and put some items for sale in the bookshop I manage.

I have started off by producing a couple of seascape themed photo-frames each containing three photos with a chunky plain black frame. I have only made two so far because we didn’t have the money spare to buy loads of frames but I sold 2 within 3 days of putting them out in the shop and already have another on order. I really need to get round to making up some more as I seem to be onto a winner!

Also, have you ever heard of fotolia or istockphoto? I hadn’t until last week but apparently you can upload your photos and then companies or individuals pay around 60p to buy each print. There are loads of really good quality photos on there so it’s not a dead cert you will make any money but we have loads of really good hoverfly and butterfly pictures which seem like they could fit into a fairly untapped niche market. If we don’t try we’ll never know!