Looking West from Langland Point

I decided to have another go at a sunset shot on Wednesday evening, so headed round to Langland Point at the western end of Langland Bay near Swansea. At this time of the year, it's a cold and invariably windy spot, with great views along the rugged Gower coastline towards the setting sun.

However, just as yesterday, the hoped-for sunset failed to materialise, and I was once more presented with the slightly-depressing cold blue light of dusk:

Dusk at Worm's Head

Yesterday evening, I headed out to Rhossili on the Gower Peninsula, hoping for a beautiful sunset. This view over the coastguard hut was as near as there was to a colourful sky:

A stubborn bank of cloud then positioned itself behind 'The Worm', resulting in this cool blue light:

I turned to the right to photograph this view along Rhossili beach towards the small tidal island of Burry Holms:

I zoomed in on the outer part of Worm's Head:

Finally, a long exposure of 124 seconds:



I also had a try at a star-trails shot over the headland, but that was a failure as well!

Another Star-Trail

Taken last night, this is the same tree as my recent post, but with the camera pointing in a different direction:

It's a combination of three ten-minute exposures. I bought an intervalometer, and I had set it to take 18 ten-minute exposures, but all but the first three were ruined by condensation forming on the front of the lens, despite me trying a chemical hand-warmer wrapped around the lens to try to keep it warm, as was recommended to me.

Anyone know a foolproof way to keep the lens condensation-free when doing long exposures on a cold night?

Pied Wagtail and an Eagle

After photographing the crows in my previous post, I came upon this little Pied Wagtail perched nearby in the dim blue light of dusk:

If you're wondering what it's standing upon, it's this sculpture of an eagle (or osprey), photographed at sunrise way back in 2005:

Carrion Crow

I must have once fed some Carrion Crows on my regular walks along Swansea seafront; and now, whenever I walk a particular stretch of the coast path, several crows fly up to me as soon as I appear, clearly hoping for more food, and obviously able to distinguish me from other passers-by (mind you, a face like mine, once seen, is not easily forgotten!).

Today, I took advantage of the crows' familiarity by taking a few shots with my 'big gun':

Nictitating membrane down on this one's eye:

Inspecting me closely as I lay on the ground to steady my lens and get a low, intimate shooting angle:

Maybe not the most 'glamorous' birds, but I like them!