Stormy is the word!

Since getting back to the island at the beginning of the month, we have been beset by an almost endless barrage of low pressures and storm systems, culminating in 'Storm Frank' yesterday. For the most part, this has produced quite a lot of rather dull days, prevailed by heavy rain and strong winds. However, every now and then the sun makes a shy appearance, and turns the bleak landscape into a beautiful display of colour: the spray of waves catching the late afternoon sun; Choughs gleaming as they bank and glide aerobically prior to landing; the endless tones of blues, greys and whites that make up the colour of each rollings wave.

So for some of the time during the last few weeks, it has been very pleasant to be outside, with plenty of great photographic opportunities, and enough wildlife to keep one entertained. It has been great to see two new Grey Seal pups appear on the beaches around the Narrows over the last two weeks, which have only just managed to escape the very high tides and stormy weather. Equally, watching the moulted seal pups that are now independent has been amusing too: some have adopted certain rock pools around the coast where they will play for hours in the shallows.

In terms of birdlife, passerines have been in short supply during the windy conditions, but waders and gulls around the Narrows have provided plenty of interest. There appear to be two Whimbrels overwintering this year, with overwintering populations of around 25 Turnstones, 10 Purple Sandpipers, 100 Oystercatchers and 14 Redshanks. Every day a small feeding flock of Kittiwakes trails around the island along the various tidal currents, feeding on churned up morsels of fish and invertebrates. Occasionally this flock (numbering around 140) contains a few Little Gulls and the odd Mediterranean Gull, with plenty of Common Gulls and Herring Gulls tagging along now and then.

All in all it has been a great few week's break from uni, although whether the weather will allow us to return to Falmouth to continue the next term is another matter!!

Here is a selection of images taken during my time back on the island:

 Dad and I took the advantage of a rare clear (ish) night to take a star timelapse sequence and also snap a few images down in the bay in Henllwyn. This is a 25 second exposure at ISO 320 (6D of course!)

A Grey Seal bull emerging from a mass of sea foam!

Grey Seal with a bit of bokeh

Moulted pup peeking over some sea foam

Scratchy seal

Kittiwake scaling a breaking wave

Common Gull

Turnstones in the splash zone

Herring Gull

Purple Sandpipers- there don't appear to be as many as usually overwinter here, but it is nice to see them

Chough in-coming!

It was brilliant to spot this Jack Snipe sitting tight whilst walking up through the wetlands a few days ago!!

Panoramic of the island from the south end

It has been very cool to see so many By-the-wind Sailors washing up on the island- such fascinating creatures (check out my advent post on them here)

These Goose Barnacles had chosen a novel piece of floatsom to commandeer! Goose Barnacles are species of Crustacean, and lead to one of the more impressive myths before the knowledge of migration: it was thought that Barnacle Geese originated from these barnacles, spending the winter in this form before emerging as geese in the spring!

I have also been attempting a few timelapse sequences during my time here...

Bardsey's underwater world

One of the things that I really enjoy during the summer months is swimming and snorkelling around the island's coast. After the right weather conditions, the sea can be crystal clear, with a wealth of things to see and enjoy whilst dabbling around Bardsey's shores. Snorkelling can be great fun, especially when inquisitive Grey Seals decide to come and have a closer look, playing with your fins and generally swimming really close. I love diving under the surface to get a closer look at the deeper reaches of the underwater world, where you can follow Cuckoo Wrass through Kelp forests, and watch Snakelocks Anemones waving in the gentle current. It really is enjoyable. This year I have been taking my Dad's GoPro Hero3 out when snorkelling, so that I can take a few videos of the more interesting encounters we have. From those videos, I have taken a few snapshots- these are pictured below. I am hoping to get a basic underwater camera soon, which will hopefully lead to more quality results. Enjoy!

Snakelocks Anemone

I have had some great Grey Seal encounters this year- the above image shows one of the tamer ones swimming right up to me and even playing with my fins

Swimming through a Kelp 'tunnel'

Spider Crab

The view over towards Bardsey mountain

What I think to be a Violet Stinger jellyfish

More Kelp forest

A bit of landscape shot from the East Side

Recent photographic highlights

Over the last two weeks I have had some great photographic opportunities here on Bardsey, from photographing Manx Shearwaters on star-lit nights, to watching Grey Seal bulls battle it out in the bay. Since I have not uploaded any of these images onto the blog, I thought I would do an update featuring my favourite photographs from the last few weeks. I hope you enjoy...

I made a special effort one morning to make it to the North End for sunrise, which was around 0550. My aim was to photograph a few of the breeding gulls flying in front of the sun, with the Gwylan Islands and distant mainland in the background. I photographed plenty of Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls flying past, but this one was my favourite

I have had this type of image in mind for quite a while. Last week the skies cleared enough to try it out one night. I used a Canon 6D and Canon fisheye 15mm to get a very wide angle shot of this Manx Shearwater, as it sat on a nearby bank. I used a 25 second exposure and ISO 5000, plus a dim head torch to illuminate the bird, to get this shot. Hopefully I will be able to improve on this image in the coming weeks

Last week I visited the Fulmars on the East Side, where there were perhaps 10 individuals flying around and prospecting for nest sites. Many of them were clearly intrigued by myself, and came very close and low over me. I used a 24-105mm lens to try and get some wide angle images of them, and this is the best result

I have been experimenting a lot this year with low shutter speeds and sea movement with the island's Oysterctachers. This bird was around the East Side, and I tried to use a relatively low shutter speed of 20th sec to create the movement of the sea. I found it very difficult to retain a sharp bird, but like the overall effect. It is a work in progress

One evening I came across these two Grey Seal bulls having a playful fight with each other. I watched them battle it out for a little while, although realised that they weren't really doing any harm to each other. I took a few images, but these are my favourites

I have been taking a lot of images of birds bathing in the last few days, which will appear here in the next few weeks. Linnets and Meadow Pipits have been visiting a small pool along the track, which makes for a good location to set up a hide. This Willow Warbler paid an unexpected visit, which was quite nice

As spring progresses, and the odd rain shower passes through the island, a multitude of flowers and plants are beginning to emerge all over. These Cuckoo Flowers are appearing throughout the Wetlands, and Thrift and Squill are adding some very nice colouration to the coast

This Yellow Dung Fly has been a subject for my macro photography for some time, and one of my favourite views of them is head-on. They have very comical faces, which almost give them the look of being surprised. I will continue to try and get some better images, but this is my best so far.