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Sunday 16 June 2013

Abbotsbury Swannery...... Cute Cygnets galore!!

On the 12th of June I popped into Abbotsbury Swannery near Weymouth in Dorset as I was in the area and I knew this was the time of year that there would be Cygnets about! It was a grim, wet, foggy and dark day and I didn't have long, but I took my camera in anyway in the hope of getting some half decent pictures!
   I was amazed by just how many baby Swans were about, they were everywhere! The parent birds were very tolerant of the human visiters too, allowing very close views. I got my camera wet in the rain, but it was worth it! I just wish it had been a lovely sunny day, maybe that's asking too much of British Summers nowadays!
  The whole place is beautiful and there were lots of other wildlife about too! I will definitely be visiting again!

Below are some of the cute pictures I managed to get, despite the conditions!






































 


Plus a Pheasant interloper!! ;-)


Sunday 14 April 2013

A week in Woolacombe!

A couple of months ago I booked a week in Woolacombe, Devon with my family for an Easter break. I was expecting lovely weather to be honest, but it turned out that Winter didn't want to hand over the British environment to Spring just yet and the resulting weather was wet, cold and windy!
  Being a lover of wildlife photography, this wasn't great news! Even worse news was the fact my Nikkor 70-300mm lens started developing a fault that got progressively worse day by day! The motor inside seemed to be 'sticking', the lens made a horrible grating noise and the focus jumped all over the place, making taking pictures impossible! After a few seconds the noise and vibrating stopped and I could finally take the picture, but usually by this time the bird had long gone! I was truly fed up with this unexpected turn of events! I wonder if it can be fixed, or even if it is worth trying....might be cheaper to buy a new one! :-(
    Still, there were plenty of birds in the woods outside our chalet, including Ravens, Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Jays and Buzzards. Tawny Owls called out in the night.
  Down by the beach a few Wheatears were on the short grass by the dunes, as well as Meadow Pipits and Stonechats in the scrub.
  I still had a nice time walking and swimming all week, but, to be quite frank, I'm now knackered..... I could do with a holiday....

By the way, we stayed at Woolacombe Sands holiday park, a fabulous friendly place to stay, one I can highly recommend! Here's the link to their website;
http://www.woolacombe-sands.co.uk/


Below are some pictures I did manage to get!




^Above^ - Buzzard by our chalet!




^Above^ - Carrion Crow feasting on a dead Fish on the beach.



^Above^ - Male Stonechat



^Above^ - Dunnock near the chalet.


^Above^ - Magpie


^Above^ - A Chiffchaff, swallowing a fly it had caught by our chalet.



^Above^ - Jackdaw


^Above^ - Kestrel hunting on the Sand Dunes.


^Above^ - Wheatear


^Above^ - Daffodils at the Holiday camp confirmed it was actually Springtime!!



^Above^ - Song Thrushes are increasingly a rare sight in my home County of Somerset, but the Holiday    Park had plenty of them! Their song was a beautiful sound to wake up to in the mornings and just as lovely to listen to as the sun set in the evenings!



 ^Above^ - Gorgeous Gorse in bloom!


 ^Above^ - Another sign that it really was Spring was the presence of lots of bleating Lambs on the hillside beside the Holiday Park!





^Above^ - Woolacombe sunsets are stunning!!


^Above^ - The sunset view from our chalet! What could be better?!


^Above^ - Yours truly on the Holiday parks 'Woodland walk'. Picture taken by daughter Emily!