New Quay Dolphins

New Quay in Wales is undoubtedly one of the best places in Britain to see Bottlenosed Dolphins. Pack yourself a picnic and settle down on the breakwater wall and enjoy the amazing cetacean show played out in the clear waters of Cardigan Bay. This is exactly what Jane and I did last June, and despite the changeable weather we enjoyed a full day's dolphin entertainment. The animals here can be viewed without optics but to obtain the best views a pair of binoculars is a real boon.
It is not easy to estimate the total number of dolphins seen, but there were at least a two or three mother and calf pairs quite close to the harbour wall, while further out small pods could be seen fishing and performing breathtaking acrobatics in the company of plunge-diving Gannets. Even after many hours of observation it was a struggle to drag ourselves away from this amazing wildlife spectacle; but we will be back.
All photos were taken from the breakwater with a 400mm lens.

This adult Kittiwake fed close to the harbour wall

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Azores Common Dolphins

Dolphins

Dotterel

This weekend I had two distinctly different birding experiences with two different species of wading bird. The first bird was a beautiful juvenile Dotterel that graced the grassy plateau near the limestone pavement on the Great Orme, Conway. Dotterel breed on grassy tundra and are also a rare breeding bird of the mountain tops in Scotland. This means that they have very little contact with humans and as a result can be quite tame; as was the case with the Welsh bird that approached to within a few feet of where I was sitting in the sunshine. During the two hours that I spent on site only a handful of birders viewed this confiding wader. In total contrast a the Stilt Sandpiper at Neumann's Flash in Cheshire was but a distant speck in my telescope and afforded scant photographic opportunities. But due to its greater rarity many more birders visited this site. On a scale where zero is failing to see a bird at all and ten is giving the proverbial "crippling" views I would award this bird a paltry number one! That is only one better than not seeing the bird at all. OK, joking aside, it was a Cheshire tick for me, but the Stilt Sands that I have seen before at Minsmere in 1997 and in Dorset in 2011 gave much better views. But I wouldn't go as far to say that it was a bad as the Great Knot in the Northeast in 1996, but that's another story.

Although the sun shone brightly for most of the day the wind was
quite strong and the bird made the most of this outcrop of
limestone that offered some respite from the relentless breeze.

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Whimbrel

Little Swift

Yorkshire Insects

I recently spent a cultural day with my family in the village of Haworth, West Yorkshire,  home of the famous Bronte sisters. I did manage a few shots of the local wildlife as we also visited the picturesque village of Wycoller where there was an abundance of insects.

Green-veined White butterflies

Small Skipper

Common Hawker

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Butterflies and Dragonflies

Humpback Whale

Turnstones

I photographed these Turnstones on the coastal defences at Wallasey over the high tide. It's nice to have such enigmatic waders close to home. Some of the birds were still in summer-plumage which is always nice to see.

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Whimbrel

Short-eared Owl

Caspian Tern

I finally caught up with this monster tern that has been commuting between Cheshire and Staffordshire for the last few days. My only other British sighting of Caspian Tern was in 1992 at Neumann's Flash in Cheshire; who would have thought that the Northwest of England was a good place to see the world's largest species of tern?

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Whimbrel

Azores Bullfinch

Sunny Summer Days

In total contrast to the last few years, this July has been one of the warmest and driest in living memory.
I have been making the most of the sunshine and have been out and about with my camera and have also walked up Mount Snowdon twice! Here are a few recent shots. Get out there and enjoy the weather!

Dark Green Fritillary near Ruthin, North Wales.

Male Common Redstart, Ynys-hir RSPB.

Large Red Damselfly, Ynys-hir.

Fledgling Robin, foot of Snowdon, taken with compact camera.

At the start of Crib Goch ridge, Snowdonia.

Common Pheasant, Ynys-hir.

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Butterflies and Dragonflies

Ynys-hir

Azores Bullfinch

The Azores Bullfinch, or Priolo, is endemic to the island of Sao Miguel in the Azores. It was once quite widespread until a few decades ago when farmers started shooting them because of crop damage. This beautiful finch is now only found in the eastern part of the island, mainly on wooded hillsides around Pico de Vara. A chance meeting with one of the whale spotters (vigias) near Ponta Delgada, led us to explore a different site that was not as far to drive and we were amazed to find over a dozen Bullfinches feeding in a field. I was thrilled to see such a rare bird and was quite content to enjoy pleasant but, from a photographer's viewpoint, distant views. That was until one bird flew from the field and landed in a bush quite close to our car from which I was able to obtain an acceptable photograph.

Both sexes of the Azores Bullfinch resemble
the female Eurasian Bullfinch.

Madeiran Wall Lizards are common on the rocks around
the harbour in Ponta Delagda.

This Loggerhead Turtle was seen on a whale-watching trip.

 

Common Buzzard.

Azorean Yellow-legged Gull - because of the abundant fish scraps
in the harbour at Ponta Delagada these gulls flatly refused to come
to bread!

Azorean race of Chaffinch.

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Spotted Dolphins in the Azores

Wildlife of the Azores