Wildlife at St Davids – pt 2 (Buzzards)

Solva is just a few miles along the coast from St Davids. It's a small conservation area which comprises steep wooded cliffs around a dog-legged inlet. At low tide the boats are all marooned high and dry at the harbour end. The inlet opens out into a wide sandy bay, with low rocks leading up to the cliffs. A small rocky outcrop completes the view.
The harbour at low tide

Yes, that's me 😉

You'd be forgiven for expecting sea birds to be the main attraction, and to be fair there was plenty to see, from gulls (black-backed, black-headed and herring gulls are all present) to oystercatchers, but it's the buzzards that provide the outstanding spectacle. They dominate the bay, more so than the local peregrines and sparrowhawks.

Having seen the buzzards from the beach, I decided that it might just be worth seeing if I could get a little closer by taking one of the paths to the top of the cliffs. Now although I'm not bad with heights, I'm not great with them either. Getting up to the top was easy enough. It was a solo trek (Mrs Words has no head for heights at all). The path winds its way through the trees, and although narrow I felt secure enough (the trees hid the view!). And sure enough, as I neared the summit a buzzard flew out from the trees, barely 10 feet ahead of me :faint: A truly close encounter that made it all worthwhile.

It was at the top that I wondered about the wisdom of the climb. One look convinced me that I really didn't fancy the path along the edge of the cliffs, and even perched on the reasonably large grassy area right at the top of the path I felt much more comfortable sitting down. Which is what I did. The only problem was the somewhat worrying sign a few feet ahead of me…

And the gulls which swept across in an endless stream…

And the rooks…

And the vertiginous view back down to earth…

I did, however, see some more buzzards across the valley…

I stayed and watched for about half an hour before bracing myself for the downward 'climb'. It was fine, but did teach me that I'm probably not as good with heights as I would like to be. I can 'do' them, but I don't like them.

And so back on terra firma, where Mrs Words was waiting patiently by the harbour for the intrepid explorer to return.

Nature Blog Network
Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 40D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens + UV filter (except the one of me, which was taken by Mrs Words with the Canon S2 IS)

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This Post Has 16 Comments

  1. RobinL

    9 Sep 2009

    Again, most interesting! I've never had any problem with heights, but that certainly is a vertiginous view. But I think I would be more concerned with nature of the sign!
    Not sure I would want my expensive sail boat perched on it's keel like that!

  2. gdare

    9 Sep 2009

    How much is the difference between low and high tide there, it seems to me at least 2 meters?
    It would be interesting to see that bull, I am sure he is not that cruel as the sign may imply 😛

  3. studio41

    9 Sep 2009

    great post! thank you for the interesting tour and view!! "Yes, that's me" photo is nice… good to 'see' you and Mrs. Words within this archive 🙂

  4. SittingFox

    9 Sep 2009

    Is that your monopod in the sand? Hope it cleaned up okay 😉

    It's amazing what we will do to find wildlife…but at least having buzzards and gulls circling overhead doesn't immediately invoke the same connotations as attention from vultures :eyes:

    I didn't think that I was particularly frightened of heights either until I tried climbing one of Waterton's steepest trails the day after a 16km horse ride. Sheer exhaustion meant that my legs just simply wouldn't function, and the bottom of the valley was…a…long…way…down :yikes:

  5. Words

    9 Sep 2009

    Adele, the monpod is fine. It's the camera that eventually succumbed to the elements. And oddly my 25-105 lens is playing up as well, though that didn't get ravaged by the elements. May need to get that fixed too 🙁

    I dream of seeing vultures over the Sussex skies! They're in northern France so a strong southerly wind, and you never know 😉 Heights are strange. Some people have no fear at all, and I'm sure I used to be better with them, but I'm not keen on taking too many chances. If there are barriers I'm ok, but a lot of the walks are only a couple of feet from the edge in places. A loss of balance and over you go 🙁

  6. Words

    9 Sep 2009

    Robin, the sign was the icing on the cake. I did check and I couldn't actually see a bull in the field, but I wasn't going to investigate too closely. The boats seemed fine (people were working on them at low tide). They were all afloat later on as the tide comes in.

  7. Words

    9 Sep 2009

    Darko, I'm not sure of the difference in tides, but 2 metres could be about right. I'm afraid I didn't see the bull. :cow:

  8. Words

    9 Sep 2009

    Jill, thanks. Several more instalments to follow as and when I get the photos sorted out. I thought we should 'appear' in the blog (just).

  9. gdare

    10 Sep 2009

    Originally posted by Words:

    I'm afraid I didn't see the bull.

    From his point of view, it is much important if he sees you first :devil:

  10. studio41

    10 Sep 2009

    :up: 🙂

  11. anonymous

    10 Sep 2009

    TBR writes:

    Hell Words.
    Thanks for posting on one of my childhood memories – St.Davids etc… 'tis where I stumbled across a young Peregrine on its first kill (my first EVER view of a peregrine), where I saw my first grey seals and where I learned to surf (Newgale).
    Hows the camera then? And what of the 100-400 pump. I am possibly looking to buy one of these – did you recently have trouble with yours (repaired now I assume?)
    Lovely shots as usual – so evocative!
    TBR

  12. Words

    10 Sep 2009

    Neil, thanks! More to follow soon…. 😉

  13. Ukwildlife

    10 Sep 2009

    More great photos, and good tale to got with it.

  14. Words

    10 Sep 2009

    Hi Doug, you clearly know the area well :up: Newgale is perfect for surfers. We only saw one peregrine, but plenty of seals (to come in a later entry). The camera is in for repair, so I'll have to see what happens with that. They may well be able to fix it, but I guess it depends on how much salt damage there is. The pump was the perfect lens for the trip. The repair was good (complete rebuild?) and I used it a lot and it worked great (and survived the boat trip). My sense is that the basic design is prone to problems, but I'd also reckon I've been unlucky with this one. It's very hard to beat for flexibility. The 400/5.6 prime is slightly sharper, but being able to drop back to 100mm is incredibly useful at times. I'd still recommend it as about the perfect walkabout wildlife lens. You can get in close enough for butterflies and dragonflies (the prime has a much longer minimum focusing distance) and get a whole cow in shot if you want. Plus the IS is helpful.

  15. Flying Red Fox Blog

    11 Sep 2009

    Wow look at the size of your lens! 😆 nice to see you and Mrs Words in the photos, its the first time shes been in i think? We have seen your head once in the blog title *something strange in the garden* – or simular lol!

    Did that big lens not survive then?

  16. Words

    11 Sep 2009

    Mark, yes a holiday away and photos in the blog. Quite a change from the routine. You're right that I've posted the occasional picture of myself here, but not very often. That lens survived (thankfully), though it did get wet.

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