The River Clyne

I've been a bit 'under-the-weather' lately, and this evening was the first time I've been out with my camera in seemingly ages. I've got an almost-permanent pain in my lower back, no doubt caused by lugging this heavy gear around for so long, so I just wandered down to the beach with my Canon 40D and newly-repaired 17-40mm lens, hoping a nice sunset might develop.

These were the best shots I could come up with - some pics of the River Clyne, a small stream which flows into Swansea Bay here at Blackpill, with the sun going down in the background:

While I'm on the subject, here's a little video of the same river I took about a mile upstream last Summer:

Today was the first day, after a long, cold Winter (by our standards) that felt truly Springlike round here, and it was appropriate that I should finally get to see (and hear) my first Swallows of the year, as a small group twittered overhead on my walk down to the shore.

Injured Fox Drinking

A pair of Foxes seem to be sharing the sett with the Badgers. Although one seems to be healthy, I would guess this individual has probably come off worse in a collision with a vehicle, and looks as if it is also suffering from mange:

This was filmed on March 22nd to 24th, some of the daylight footage being captured around midday, which is a strange time for a Fox to be active. 

I haven't seen it on the camera since, so I can only guess at what's happened to it.

Grooming Badger

More fun from the sett:-
 Here's a Badger grooming itself, filmed at around 8 p.m. on March 30th:

Badger Clearing Out Its Passage

I suppose, if you drag all those leaves into your burrow, you have to clear some of the excess out. Here's a Badger doing just that, filmed on March 13th:

I wondered how my trail camera came to be coated in a fine covering of soil, and now I know.

Skunk Cabbage

I was in the park this afternoon, trying for a few photos of birds and squirrels. As I was leaving, I spotted this  plant, which I think is Skunk Cabbage, Lysichton americanus. I rested my 500mm lens on my camera bag for these two shots:

What an unattractive name for such a good-looking plant!

Badger Gathering Bedding

I've been continuing to monitor, with my trail camera, the badger sett I found a few weeks ago. Here's some footage of a couple of badgers gathering bedding material. Quite funny to watch them slithering backwards into their burrows clutching a bunch of leaves:

On a totally different note, have a look at THIS ARTICLE in the Daily Mail. The buffoon featured is my brother (at least, I'm told we're related).

Domestic Goose

A couple of shots taken on the pond in Singleton Park, where there is a small flock of these Domestic Geese, on March 2nd: