Pere David's Deer

The third species of deer in Margam Park is Pere David's Deer, Elaphurus davidianus, an endangered species apparantly originating in China. This docile species seems to spend most of its time wallowing in mud - what a life!

Anyway, here's a male grazing:

Doing what this species seems to do best - nothing:



 A couple of shots of the smaller female:

Another big stag:



Fallow Deer

Some Fallow Deer shots form my trip to Margam Park on Wednesday:-

On arrival, I saw this family group in front of the castle:

A close-up of the stag:

There was no sign of any rutting, and lounging about seemed to be the order of the day:

I followed this stag with a broken antler about for a while:

 I would have liked a sunset sky in the background for this silhouettte, but, as the park closed at 4.30 p.m., there wasn't much chance of that:

 He wandered into this small wooded area:

 As I began heading for the exit, I came upon this group peering curiously at me:

The over-the-shoulder look:

There's one more species of deer in the park, which I'll post later.

Red Deer

I spent a couple of hours in Margam Park yesterday (seeing a half-dozen or so late Swallows on my way there), hoping to see some rutting deer. I seemed to have missed all the action for this year, so I had to settle for these more static shots:-

This young stag seemed to view me as a potential rival, and advanced aggressively towards me, grunting a bit, before recoiling in horror when he realised how ugly I was:

A Fallow Deer is in the background here:

This big boy was shepherding a harem of perhaps thirty hinds (I occasionally find myself in that situation; then I wake up):



Some of his 'ladies' came for a closer look at this strange creature crouching behind a tripod:



Sunday's Stroll

A few shots from a walk along Swansea Bay on a very windy Sunday:-

The view across Blackpill Beach towards what there was of the morning sun:

Stormy skies across the bay towards Port Talbot:

Marram Grass:



Maple leaves:

As the tide came in, the waves crashed upon this outflow pipe:

The view towards the city centre:

This young lad couldn't resist walking along the pipe into the rough seas. Quite dangerous, I thought, as several people have been washed into the sea at high tide along this shore. Anyway, he didn't seem to mind me taking his picture:

I had my cap blown off a few times by the high winds, but the conditions were ideal for kite surfers:



Trees at Dusk

Not much time in the evenings now, as the nights are drawing in, but I walked along Swansea seafront today, taking these shots on a cool and clear evening:

This was a 507-second exposure, resulting in this star-trail effect:

An Hour in the Park

A few shots from yesterday in Singleton Park, Swansea.

A bit dark in this wooded area opposite the Ornamental Gardens, so shutter speeds were low and ISOs high, but I managed a few shots, albeit some of them are a bit grainy.

A Magpie showing of its iridescence:

I caught this Blue Tit in a quirky pose:

A squawking sound in the canopy alerted me to the presence of this Ring-necked Parakeet - the first time I've seen it in a few months, and in exactly the tree in which I saw it for the first time:

Nuthatches were keen to come down for the peanuts I put down for them, although it was difficult to get a shot without a nut in their mouth:

This Robin would probably been better in a vertical composition, but I didn't have time to turn my camera round:

A couple more Blue Tits to finish: