Flying high

 Most of the time i like taking photos of wildlife, landscapes or gardens. Having joined a local photographic club, Amersham, I thought I ought to expand my oeuvre. So, after the terns at Cemlyn whne the wind was blowing and the sky was blue I thought a trip to Rhosneigr might yield some interesting results. This is a flat, wide bay which is very popular with wind- and kite-surfers and you see lots of photos of them looking very active and daring. However, by the time we moved only about 10 miles as the chough flies the weather had dramatically changed. The wind was still strong but a sea-fret had moved in and the visibility was tricky going on poor. Still, I headed off to the beach to give it a go! With the visibility so poor I've had to do loads of post-processing in lightroom but it still should give you a flavour of the scene.

With the strong wind there were kite-surfers flying up into the air and what used to be wind-surfers carving the waves. All the boards now though have hydro-foils attached making them fly across the waves rather than bounce through them.

I think most of the people out there were quite good as I very rarely saw anyone wiped-out despite them coming quite close to each at times.

Although it was very challenging I was quite pleased with some of the results, although I doubt any will see the light of day in competition at Amersham. I'll be going to Portland soon where they do the same stuff and hopefully the weather will be kinder.

The terns of Cemlyn

 On the top right of Anglesey is a lovely little reserve, Cemlyn Bay. It's not a big reserve, especially by RSPB standards, being one inland freshwater pool set back from a shingle bank. Run by the local Wildlife trist it is a hotspot though for nesting terns, with sandwich, common and arctic terns all nesting on the islands. It also attracts the rarer roseate tern, which occasionally nests here but mainly visits from its nesting grounds on offshore islands.

We visited twice on our holiday to Anglesey, the fist time with it blowing a right hoolie and the second a much calmer day. Judith spent the time painting the wild flowers whilst I camped out with my 'scope and camera trying to find the roseate tern! It was helped enormously by the very informative and friendly wardens who greet visitors and show them the birds.

As you can see, the islands are mainly artificial, covered in the middle with low vegetation in which the terns nest. The viewing is very good, you are partially sheltered behind the shingle bank and are at a large enough distance that there is no disturbance to the birds. 

As you stand watching them, there is a constant stream of mainly sandwich terns bringing food in to their youngsters. These were parked on what passes for a beach which was a hive of activity. One thing you cannot convey in a blog is the noise, and smell, of a seabird colony. Constant activity and always something to look at!

The fishing must be good offshore as they were bringing back very good sized prey items for their youngsters. Looking out to sea you could see the decommissioned nuclear reactor, as per Dungeness and Minsmere where the warm water brings in fish.

The birds were passing overhead as they came in to the islands, so close it could make tracking them hard, but another was always on its in!

The only disturbance to the colony came not from people but a pair of peregrine falcons which had taken up residence nearby. On the first day I was there one would come bombing across the colony every 20 minutes or so hoping to catch a bird. It seemed to be fairly successful. The first sign of it coming in was all the birds rising off the islands to try and confuse it.

If you were quick you could see the peregrine diving into them before it gets lost on the melee of whirling birds.

Finally, I did manage to find the rare roseate tern. It was tricky to get onto, spending a lot of time on a sandbar off the beach.

Eventually it did come onto the beach area where you could see it a bit better. Smaller than the other terns with an all-dark, slightly down-turned bill and  red-legs. It was also quite aggressive to the other birds around it! Fortunately between myself and the local volunteer we got quite a few other visitors and birder onto it before it flew back out into the bay.

It was the sandwich terns which were the stars though, feeding their ever-growing progeny.

 

Bodnant Gardens

 Continuing on our mini-tour of Anglesey and its surroundings we decided to pay a visit to Bodnant Gardens. This is actually off Angelsey and just inland from Llandudno. It is a national trust garden and unusually purely that, no mouldering ancestral pile attached to go round. We have been there before and is a very pleasant and not too large garden to go round. It is very busy though so we tried to leave early to get there before the crowds built up. This wasn't helped by a large cruise ship docking nearby and depositing lots of Chucks and Wilmers off their coaches.

It is basically a walk though formal, semi-formal and wild areas. The start is the famous laburnum arch which we have never been to when it is in flower so you have to imagine how glorious it would be with the clusters of flowers hanging down.

Interestingly you could still the ghosts of some visitors still inhabiting it nowadays!

After that there was a walk through a wild area with signs of earlier wild flowers. We had been here at the same time last year and many flowers were still out. The hot summer has really brought everything forward, which we also saw in the more formal gardens later with many flowers, especially the roses having gone over.

The garden then headed down towards a wetter area, with a stream flowing though a small valley with many hydrangeas along the edges. I learnt something here, that hydrangea means "Water vessel" and hence is one of those plants which act as indicator species for not having enough water and wilting.

It was quite hot so we stopped for some refreshments near a waterfall which I spent some time at playing with camera settings to freeze or move the water.

Finally we reached the more formal part of the garden, with the lily ponds and roses. Both had suffered in the heat and were no where near as splendid as the last time we visited. 

Next time we visit I think we will try and time it earlier in the year to get the better of the flowers. Still it was very enjoyable though I suspect the cruise ship passengers may have been a bit disappointed!