A recent trip to Wales with a friend who lives at Flint, have known Jeff for some years, he is a keen nature photographer.
We headed along the North Wales coast past some familiar landmarks, destination Llandudno. Here we found Turnstones and some Purple Sandpipers, jumping about on the rocks. Jeff explained the Purple Sandpipers are quite uncommon birds.
All shots made with D800, ISO400, for most images the lens was my 300mm f/2.8 MF, mostly wide open.
Then we went to the Little Orme, Seals, Fulmars displaying their distinctive flight style and a Cormorant which flew by well out to sea, beyond sensible range. I think a full day of tidal range is needed with the Seals, once hauled out of water they are pretty well stationary most of the time, a longer lens or a multiplier would be an advantage too.
Again 300mm f/2.8:
We went on to the Great Orme, with a spectacular road on the cliffs. This is the home of roaming Kashmiri Goats. Not easy to approach
After Great Orme, we headed East, to a coastal area Jeff knows to be wildlife rich but there wasn't much happening, suddenly a flock of Curlews flew past. A very quick grab shot with the Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8 trombone lens, 1/2000 sec at f/5.6.
We also had this rather sturdy bird fly past, have no idea what it is...
This log Serpent awaited us at our next stop, a delightful little reserve, a hidden gem.
There is a delightful hide with padded seats and bushes with feeders nearby. A Gold Finch presented itself but my only clear shot was oof, it then perched, gorging itself at a feeder behind a branch.
Mostly Blue Tit's remained...
We went back to Flint to the castle, this was an HDR with the 24-120mm f/4.0.
Finally, with darkness descended, one picture I wanted, the Flint Bridge at night. Not quite the picture I wanted but close. There is a power station behind which puts the power cables in context, I wanted to include the power station but not knowing the area well enough I wasn’t sure where to take the picture from, studying Google Earth I now know where I should have been.
Again the 24-120mm f/4.0, @75mm, on a tripod, ISO500, 15.0 seconds at f/5.6
Jeff and I had a great day, we both really enjoyed it in the warm February sunshine. Hope you enjoy the pix as much as we enjoyed making them.
