Wales |
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Marsh Fritillary
12/06/2006 - John Devries and I had planned a few days away, going to Lydlinch Common, Dorset for marsh fritillary and Somerset for orchids on the first day. Then onto Skomer to spend a day with the puffins, then moving onto Mid Wales for red kites. We soon found marsh fritillary at Lydlinch which were feeding on common spotted orchid, this was a first for me. We then moved onto Wincanton for bee orchid and a bee x fly hybrid, both of these were also a first. We then traveled to a undisclosed site for a rare bee orchid var friburgensis also another first for my orchid list.
Bee Orchid var friburgensis
So far we were doing well and had not missed any of our targets for the day and headed into Wales very contented. We arrived at our B&B, The Lobster Pot early evening, booked in and had a lovely meal, before retiring totally knackered.
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Roy Dennis
13/06/2006 - Up at 7.00am to a hearty breakfast, you could feed an army on what we had, not bad for £25.00 each. We arrived at the mooring point at Martin's Haven at 8.30am, although we were told this was early, they had to put an extra boat on at 9.30am. On landing a film crew were filming us, for a program on sea birds for natural world with Roy Dennis, due to be screened in January.
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Great Black - backed Gull dinning on Manx Shearwater
Following the path along the cliffs, we saw a great black - backed gull dissecting a manx shearwater for its meal. We continued along the cliffs photographing some distant puffins on rocks with a nice blue background. Eventually arriving at the Wick to a mixture of loud noises from the sea birds, we got our first experiences of close up puffins at their nests. Again the film crew were here, with the same idea as us, to get close up images.
Puffin on Skomer
We spent most of our time here, sometimes photographing and sometimes just watching these comical little characters. Their technique for landing was a bit fast and scrappy as they came up from the underneath of the cliffs making flight shots almost impossible. They were just like little clowns as they puffed out their chests, making way to their nests, around or through peoples legs. We decided to catch the 2.30pm boat, as it was quite hot, and drive to Mid Wales. Arriving early evening at Dolifor, a farmhouse and deal of the year. Welcomed by Janet Austin and shown to our rooms, what a surprise, on suite room with double bed each for £25.00 mainly because it was the beginning of the season. Not only good rooms, but breeding redstart in the garden as an added bonus. Into Rhayader for fish & chips, then back to the farmhouse for a evening walk, finding a badgers set.
Redstart in Mid -Wales
14/06/2006 -I got up at 6.00am for a walk around the farmhouse finding more redstart, wood warbler and pied flycatcher. Followed by raven and buzzard, I went back for breakfast finding John snapping away at the pair of redstart feeding their young. Following breakfast, we set up cameras in conservatory for the redstart, not bad coffee and redstart. While watching we were lucky to see the young fledge, talk about timing. To remind us of the afternoon's task two red kites drifted over the farmhouse. I cannot recommend this place enough, a most enjoyable stay with wildlife. http://www.stayatdolifor.co.uk/
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Red Kite at Gigrin Farm 2005
We reluctantly left, with a few hours to spare, we stopped at a river with common sandpiper. We spent hour here shooting common sand and eating our lunch, before going to Gigrin farm. This turned out to be disappointing, the weather had been sunny all morning until we arrived at the kite site. Watching the kites feeding was brilliant, but the sky was grey and black. No light, no speed, no decent pictures, binned the lot when I got home. Although the kites were disappointing on the photographic side, the whole week - end was a success. Surprise, surprise half way home down the M4 the sun came out.
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Andy Vidler Wildlife Photography