Tuesday, January 03, 2012

Grey Seals at Worm's Head

The main reason for my visit to Worm's Head a few days back was to observe, and hopefully photograph, the Grey Seals there. The term 'Worm's Head' is a corruption of the Viking 'wurm', meaning dragon or serpent. The causeway to this tidal island is crossable for about two-and-a-half hours either side of low tide. The seals can be seen drifting offshore (and sometimes hauled out on rocks) near the left-hand side of the large cliff visible in the following two pictures, taken from the mainland:



I crossed the causeway, and sat down on a cliff, from where I could see around half-a-dozen seals bobbing about in the sea about thirty metres below.
I set up my camera on a tripod with a 500mm lens and 2x converter, and was able to take a few pictures:




At least one pair seemed to be exhibiting breeding behaviour, rolling around with their bodies entwined, and sometimes apparently 'kissing':







I didn't want to end up like Dylan Thomas, who once got stranded overnight on this island, so I headed for home as the sun began to set.

9 comments:

  1. Great series!! Is the 500mm a telephoto, and how does the teleconvertor work with day light or the lack of it? Check my post today as an example of the lack of light. Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada. PS I took another look and you've got some sun.

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  2. Lovely photos - thank for posting.

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  3. Thanks for your comments.
    Gary, the lens is a Sigma 500mm f/4.5 telephoto, used with a Kenko Pro 2x converter. Works quite well, and can give sharp results, but loses 2 stops of light, so you will probably need a solid tripod to hold it all steady and to prevent camera shake. Also, most likely (depending on the lens and camera used) you will have to use manual focus (as I did here), so I would only use this combination on static or slow-moving subjects - like these seals.

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  4. Grand set of images. It is difficult to get crisp images with that set up.

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  5. Lovely pictures and awesome photography. Great effort needed to get these types of pictures.

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  6. Seals, such grand creatures and it looks like you have captured some brilliant images, showing off their personalities very well. The bottom image is like saying hello and good-bye all at the same time;)

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  7. Beautiful pictures!
    I is so much fun to watch them playing in the water! They are so agile and move so quickly!
    Greetings from Switzerland
    Yvonne & Raphael

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  8. Stunning photos of the seals! I have many grey seals that haul up on the beach below my house, but I lack decent binoculars AND camera so can't capture them in intimate detail as you have. What a joy!

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