In The Wild 2009
Wild flowers, wild waters, and wild animals.
The beginnings of the bluebells in Fforest Fawr, by Tongwynlais in South Wales.
Thicker bluebell carpet.
Bluebell carpets stretching on through the forest. Unfortunately, recent forestry work in this area has piled branches over the flowers, spoiling the effect somewhat.
Bluebell forest.
Dryad's Saddle, an enormous fungus on a fallen tree, surrounded by wild garlic.
When we last visited Melincourt Falls, we failed to notice that it was possible to walk behind it. Admitedly, it was covered in ice, and would have been lethal, but it did warrant a return visit. The path behind it is not officially maintained, and is an unstable route over mud, followed by very slippery rocks, covered with iron oxide by a small resurgence.
It may not be the most easy of waterfalls to walk behind, but the large rocky ledge gives a great view through the curtain.
Behind Melincourt Falls.
Out in search of the wild deer herds in Margam Park, we finally see a distant herd of red deer. At 1.2 km away, the picture suffers badly from heat haze (reduced by using the picture at 50% of its maximum scale, and increasing the contrast).
On the way to the red deer herd, a fallow deer herd greets us instead. There are a couple of these albino fallows in the herds in the park. We managed to get about 50 metres away before being spotted, but the deer seemed not to mind, as long as we did not get too much closer.
A doe keeps her eye on us.
Buck and doe.
Fallow buck.
The distinctive rumps of the fallow, with their characteristic way of looking over their shoulders. By now, we were just 20 metres away, and that was deemed close enough. Given that these deer are culled using hunting rifles to control the populations, it's truly amazing to be allowed to get so close to them, especially while pointing a huge camera lens at them. The herd decided to move on, maintaining that minimum distance, so we left them alone, and went in search of other herds.
The next herd was spotted some distance away. A large herd of fallow does, who seemed to have adopted an enormous red deer stag as their guardian. Hiding in the trees behind them, the fallow buck is obviously greatly intimidated by his new rival, twice his height, and three times his weight. Forlorn, he has lost his herd, lost his does, and his antlers are clearly far too small to compete with the monstrous red deer stag's. "But ... they were mine ... weren't they? I'm sure they were...". Almost makes you feel sorry for the poor thing.
As we approached, the stag saw us easily, and the herd followed suit, peering over the rise.
The red deer stag. He posed in this perfect stance for as long as we needed, close enough to see the hairs of the velvet on his antlers, waiting until we got just 40 metres away before departing. The herd realised he has left, and immediately sped off after him, followed by the buck, hoping some day to win them back.
Mallard mother and duckling, in the artificial lakes in the park.
A pied wagtail prepares to fly.
Launch.
And away.
Canada goslings balancing with their wings while running.
Over to Pontcanna Fields in Cardiff a while later, some squirrels were glowing in the evening sun.
One in a tree was making a bizzare noise that sounded like it was trying to copy a crow.
A small, very camera shy rabbit.
House martins hunting for flies (actually a montage shot - it's really nice this way, but I'd feel guilty if I didn't admit it).
The fields have a large population of (barn) swallows.
They whistle over the fields just inches from the ground. They move so fast, and turn without warning, such that it's almost impossible to track them for long enough for the camera to focus. Full zoom is unusable because they shoot past the field of view. I blew over 500 photos in just 15 minutes here, desperately trying to get something, and to be fair, I think I got some very good results.
They circled around us in numbers, occasionally aiming towards us, and turning away just 2 metres away. The camera fails completely to focus when this happens, due to the closing speed of these birds. The vast majority of the pictures are just a blurry blob, often partly cut off by the edge of the frame.
A very lucky shot by Becci, of a juvenile swallow catching a fly.
The best of my swallow pictures (another montage - there, I admitted it).
The beginnings of the bluebells in Fforest Fawr, by Tongwynlais in South Wales.
Thicker bluebell carpet.
Bluebell carpets stretching on through the forest. Unfortunately, recent forestry work in this area has piled branches over the flowers, spoiling the effect somewhat.
Bluebell forest.
Dryad's Saddle, an enormous fungus on a fallen tree, surrounded by wild garlic.
When we last visited Melincourt Falls, we failed to notice that it was possible to walk behind it. Admitedly, it was covered in ice, and would have been lethal, but it did warrant a return visit. The path behind it is not officially maintained, and is an unstable route over mud, followed by very slippery rocks, covered with iron oxide by a small resurgence.
It may not be the most easy of waterfalls to walk behind, but the large rocky ledge gives a great view through the curtain.
Behind Melincourt Falls.
Out in search of the wild deer herds in Margam Park, we finally see a distant herd of red deer. At 1.2 km away, the picture suffers badly from heat haze (reduced by using the picture at 50% of its maximum scale, and increasing the contrast).
On the way to the red deer herd, a fallow deer herd greets us instead. There are a couple of these albino fallows in the herds in the park. We managed to get about 50 metres away before being spotted, but the deer seemed not to mind, as long as we did not get too much closer.
A doe keeps her eye on us.
Buck and doe.
Fallow buck.
The distinctive rumps of the fallow, with their characteristic way of looking over their shoulders. By now, we were just 20 metres away, and that was deemed close enough. Given that these deer are culled using hunting rifles to control the populations, it's truly amazing to be allowed to get so close to them, especially while pointing a huge camera lens at them. The herd decided to move on, maintaining that minimum distance, so we left them alone, and went in search of other herds.
The next herd was spotted some distance away. A large herd of fallow does, who seemed to have adopted an enormous red deer stag as their guardian. Hiding in the trees behind them, the fallow buck is obviously greatly intimidated by his new rival, twice his height, and three times his weight. Forlorn, he has lost his herd, lost his does, and his antlers are clearly far too small to compete with the monstrous red deer stag's. "But ... they were mine ... weren't they? I'm sure they were...". Almost makes you feel sorry for the poor thing.
As we approached, the stag saw us easily, and the herd followed suit, peering over the rise.
The red deer stag. He posed in this perfect stance for as long as we needed, close enough to see the hairs of the velvet on his antlers, waiting until we got just 40 metres away before departing. The herd realised he has left, and immediately sped off after him, followed by the buck, hoping some day to win them back.
Mallard mother and duckling, in the artificial lakes in the park.
A pied wagtail prepares to fly.
Launch.
And away.
Canada goslings balancing with their wings while running.
Over to Pontcanna Fields in Cardiff a while later, some squirrels were glowing in the evening sun.
One in a tree was making a bizzare noise that sounded like it was trying to copy a crow.
A small, very camera shy rabbit.
House martins hunting for flies (actually a montage shot - it's really nice this way, but I'd feel guilty if I didn't admit it).
The fields have a large population of (barn) swallows.
They whistle over the fields just inches from the ground. They move so fast, and turn without warning, such that it's almost impossible to track them for long enough for the camera to focus. Full zoom is unusable because they shoot past the field of view. I blew over 500 photos in just 15 minutes here, desperately trying to get something, and to be fair, I think I got some very good results.
They circled around us in numbers, occasionally aiming towards us, and turning away just 2 metres away. The camera fails completely to focus when this happens, due to the closing speed of these birds. The vast majority of the pictures are just a blurry blob, often partly cut off by the edge of the frame.
A very lucky shot by Becci, of a juvenile swallow catching a fly.
The best of my swallow pictures (another montage - there, I admitted it).