Seals and Cormorants

Having read Adam's recent post, I decided to head over to the Tawe Barrage in Swansea on Saturday afternoon to see if there were any Grey Seals there. Sure enough, as he reported, there seemed to be two taking advantage of the concentration of fish there. I stood on the bridge over the river in the pouring rain (in the process, finding out my waterproofs were not waterproof at all!), pointed my lens downwards, and was able to take a few pictures as a seal occasionally popped up from the foaming waters:

This one looked as if he was taking a bubble-bath:

I was also able to take a couple of shots of the eight-or-so Cormorants which were perched and fishing nearby:

High Tide at Blackpill

I took a walk along my local beach in Swansea on Wednesday evening, the 31st August. It was high tide, and a large group of Ringed Plovers and Dunlins had gathered at Blackpill beach, which is the only patch of sand to remain uncovered as the sea rises. I didn't have my big lens with me, but the birds were quite approachable in the dusk light, so I settled down to watch them for a few moments, and took a bit of footage with my camcorder:



Could have done with a bit of editing, really, and the wind noise is a bit annoying, but it was nice for once just to sit and watch these fascinating creatures, instead of rushing around trying to get photos as I normally do.

Autumn Leaves

Unless it's my imagination, Autumn seems to be coming in faster than normal this year: