A morning in the bay.........

Having seen some nice photos of both the juvenile Little Gull and Arctic Tern that have been kicking around Cardiff Bay during the week I planned a visit this morning before the rain was due to come in early afternoon.
I arranged to meet fellow 'togger' Peter Morgan at Sarn at 9.00am but a phone call as I waited advised that his car had broken down and so I made my way to the bay with just my dog Pearl for company.
I parked up in the small car in the residential area of Penarth Marina and the 5 minute walk saved me £3.00 at the barrage car park, tight buggers us birders.
I got on the Arctic Tern first sitting on orange buoys near the inner pier and picked up the juvenile Little Gull in flight at end of the pier, the tern never came close enough for anything other than 'record' shots but the Little Gull did oblige on occasions.........

I got a little damp with the persistent drizzle and by about 1.30pm I decided to call it a day and head for home reasonably pleased with my morning's efforts.

'A Stroll Along The River Neath'..........

Having not done much in late June and most of July other than the Sea Trust pelagic I decided to have a walk along the east bank of the River Neath south of Briton Ferry bridge in search of an Autumn passage Wheatear or two and anything else that I could find.
There were a few Little Egrets feeding along the bank and I found two Wheatears down by 'The Pipes' at the end of the path, the usual Oystercatchers and Curlews were also in residence......

Leaving Briton Ferry I thought that I'd check out a couple of Little Owl territories in the Vale of Glamorgan and to my delight both were occupied........

'A Day At Sea'.........

A few weeks ago on Sunday 8th July to be precise myself and good friend and fellow 'togger' took part in a Sea Trust pelagic organised by Cliff Benson out of Neyland Marina passing Skomer, Skokholm, Grassholm and The Smalls as we headed out to the Celtic Deep in search of cetaceans.
The weather could not have been better and we encountered Puffins, Guillemots, Razorbills, Manx Shearwaters, Gannets and various gulls, cetaceans were limited to Common Dolphins which reached well into three figures and our sole encounter with a whale was a solitary Minke which made our day.
Here are a few photos from the day, the 500mm stayed in the bag and all photos were taken with my Canon 70-200 f2.8 IS MkII which is an incredibly versatile lens...........

The last couple of weeks.........

A few pics from the last couple of weeks, Wood Warbler at Darren Woods, Maesteg, Meadow Pipit at Maesteg golf course, Grasshopper Warbler at Garnwen, Maesteg and finally a few Common Terns at Zeebrugge Harbour, Belgium from a recent cruise......