{"id":1476,"date":"2009-09-10T23:09:09","date_gmt":"2009-09-10T22:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/archives\/1476"},"modified":"2013-11-13T00:30:07","modified_gmt":"2013-11-13T00:30:07","slug":"wildlife-at-st-davids-pt-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/wildlife-at-st-davids-pt-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Wildlife at St Davids – pt 3"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

The wind was still high when we got up on the following day, and once again I headed to St Justinians in the vain hope of the boats going out; and once again I was disappointed. The trips out to Ramsey Island were cancelled for the day. This is the nearest I got.
<\/span> Boats at St Justinians<\/span><\/p>\n

The prospects for later in the day weren't good, so we headed back along the coast to Whitesands, a large surfer beach. Despite my wobbles about heights, I did venture up the rocks; partly to make sure I hadn't spooked myself.
<\/span> Whitesands Beach<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> Me near the top! <\/span><\/p>\n

I'm so bold, I even sat down up there \ud83d\ude09 After a quick lunch in the surfer shop, we headed back to Solva. As I've said, it's such a beautiful spot. Sheltered, low level (in places), quiet and just perfect for sitting and watching the tides and the birds. Of course we saw more buzzards, and the black-headed gulls were a delight as they skimmed along the harbour walls.
<\/span> Black-headed gull (winter plumage)<\/span><\/p>\n

But today the buzzards weren't the largest bird in the harbour. Hidden in a corner of the bay, in the shadows, I spotted a familiar and elegant outline. My years of stalking practice paid off ( :whistle: ) as I edged my way across the sands.
<\/span> Heron at Solva<\/span><\/p>\n

The heron waded calmly along the water's edge, until it was eventually disturbed by a dog-walker and made off to safer, and higher, ground.
<\/span> <\/p>\n

It stayed perched on the rocks for a short while, and then proceeded on a gentle flight around the bay, circling several times before heading off over the cliffs.
<\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/span> <\/p>\n

It's difficult to ask for a more cooperative subject! And when the birds were absent, there's always the sea.<\/p>\n

\"solva\"The sea at Solva<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

In the comments section of the previous post there's a brief discussion about the tides. These shots may give a sense of how things change over a few hours at Solva. The tide is gentle, but quick, and it's quite easy to find yourself standing in water as it comes in if you don't take care.<\/p>\n

\"solvaAt low tide<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Just 2 hours later, the scene is transformed.<\/p>\n

\"solvaAt high tide<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The next entry will (finally) feature the seals. It may take me a couple of days to sort that out. There are lots of photos to work through, and I'd like to put a short video together as well. But as a taste of what's to come, here's a couple of shots taken from the first of two trips I made on the final day of our travels.<\/p>\n

<\/span> Seals on Ramsey Island<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> Meeting the boat<\/span>
\"Nature<\/a><\/span>
Camera note: all shots were taken with the Canon 40D (except the one of me, taken by Mrs Words on the Canon S2). The lenses were the EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L USM IS for everything except the low and high tide pictures which were taken with the EF 24-105 F4L IS USM lens.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1044,1003,1050,989],"tags":[68,1179,581,136,582,577],"class_list":["post-1476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-coastal","category-landscape-2","category-seal-wildlife","category-water-birds-birds-2","tag-gull","tag-heron","tag-newgale","tag-sea","tag-seals","tag-solva","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t