Welsh Churches Website

I've become quite enamoured of the architecture of traditional British churches of late, and have been photographing a few recently, as well as looking through my archives to search for any I may have already photographed. Here's a photo of the beautiful St. Paul's Church - in Sketty, Swansea - pictured during a rare snowfall on December 17th, 2010:

Rather than post any more church pictures here, I'm in the process of gathering some pictures together at my new website, Welsh Churches.

Do take a look and click the link if you're interested in this kind of thing!

Grey Squirrel in Snow

Some footage of a Grey Squirrel feeding in the snow, filmed on the same day as the last video:

Still hoping for some snow here this year!

Some video footage of a rare snowfall in Swansea, back on January 23rd, 2013:

Buxton

I've just come back from a weekend in Buxton, an attractive market town on the edge of England's Peak District National Park. It wasn't a photography or nature-watching trip, as we had gone to see a concert at Buxton Opera House; but, on waking on Saturday morning, we found the town under a blanket of heavy snow, which continued to fall for a few hours after we went outside. Here is the hotel where we stayed:

I would definitely recommend the Buckingham Hotel as a place to stay; particularly for its wonderful food.

I love snow, and we don't get much here in Swansea, so I was keen to walk around and take a few snaps.

This couple were out walking their dog, not far from our hotel:

This lake in Pavilion Gardens was full of wildfowl, which gathered around us, hoping for a few breadcrumbs:

Unfortunately, we had nothing for them.

Here's a female Mallard in the snow:

And a male:

Continuing through the gardens, I spotted a Grey Heron on the stream, but it flew off before I could photograph it. Instead, I pointed my camera across the brook towards this picturesque building:

Here's the Opera House, where we watched the concert on Saturday evening:

After a couple of hours wandering the small town, we had seen most that there was to see, so decided to head a few miles up the valley to Lyme Park. I had imagined taking some photos of the beautiful Peak District swathed in snow, as well as the herds of Red and Fallow Deer that roam the park. Unfortunately, the snow gradually petered out as we left Buxton, and there was none at all as we arrived at our destination. We eventually spotted some distant deer about a mile away - so not worth traipsing over there in the time we had available - and, to cap it all, the mansion house we had hoped to look around was closed. Oh well!

Here's the house: 

This building, set on a windy hilltop, is known as 'The Cage', and was apparently where the local ladies sat whilst watching their menfolk hunt deer in the fields and woods around:

A lone tree growing nearby:

The evening was spent having a wonderful meal at the Ramsay's bar at our hotel, before heading out for the concert.

On Sunday morning, before catching our train back to Wales in early afternoon, we visited Poole's Cavern, a limestone cave containing many stalactites and stalagmites:

including this whopping stalactite, known as the 'Flitch of Bacon':

The fields around the edge of town were carpeted in snow:

Yet another place which I must head back to pretty soon - preferably in better weather!

Snow in Swansea

We don't get much snow here in Swansea; and, when we do, it usually melts pretty quickly. However, we had some snow a couple of days ago, and the cold weather has meant it is still lying quite thickly. I went out for a walk on Friday afternoon, and took a few pictures.

Singleton Park looked picturesque under the snowfall, and many were out enjoying the conditions:

The beach was clothed in a white blanket (for those who don't know, the large, white tower in the city centre is the Meridian Tower):

This fellow wasn't going to let the snow-covered golf course stop him:

I paused to throw down some breadcrumbs, and was soon surrounded by a group of hungry Carrion Crows:

As well as this Magpie:

Under a group of pine trees, was a small area of snow-free ground, which was being taken advantage of by this single Redwing. It was so intent on finding food, that it seemed oblivious to me as I sneaked up to it for a picture:

As I reached the area where the River Clyne flows into the sea, some sunset colours began to appear in the sky over the city:

As dusk fell, I took this shot looking across to Mumbles Lighthouse:



On Saturday, I went out again.

The nearby village of Mumbles was, like everything else, covered in snow:

The sky turned pink over the Port Talbot Steelworks across the bay:

As the sun went down, the moon rose: