Wednesday 15th July 2015 - Yorkshire Wildlife Park

Weds 15th July - Yorkshire Wildlife Park

A sunny day and we set off for the Yorkshire Wildlife Park, with Susan's parents, via Gainsborough to pick my mum up, and arrived around 11am.

http://www.yorkshirewildlifepark.com/#!opening-times--pricing/c1hrm

The car park was quite busy with coaches, and after paying the admission (£16 adult), we went into the park.

The park covers a large area, with very spacious enclosures for all the big cats (lions/ tigers etc..) and there is a fair bit of walking to do to get around it all.

Near the entrance are some of the smaller animals such as meerkats, as well as the cafes /restaurant. The main restaurant is actually outside the entrance and a stamp is required to exit and re-enter. 

We soon headed towards the large lion enclosure (Lion Country). What is good here is that there are quite a few points inside the enclosure that are higher than the fence line. This allows unobstructed views of the big cats for photography, and I made quite a few shots whilst several lionesses prowled around on top of this "hill".

I do not own a very long  (and expensive) zoom, but have a Canon 70-300mm L IS (Image Stabilised) lens for my 6D. Using this with a Kenko 1.4x converter for a bit more reach worked reasonably and with a little cropping, the image quality was not too bad (hand held)

Further around the enclosure, a lion chewing on a rather large bone.

After walking around the full enclosure a shot of flamingos, and then we headed off for lunch at the restaurant near the entrance. Think we caught it just before it got busier. The burger was excellent!

Back in thr park again, and we headed for the larger enclosures, passing camels on the way to more big cats......

Next was Leopard Heights, with a large leopard perched atop a tall "lookout" post. You can get a better view by going up the stairs to the viewing tower and looking across at the same height.

The tigers (Land of the Tiger), were a bit trickier to photograph as most could only be done through the wire fence. The young cubs we saw with their mother, but it was too dark and restricted to photograph in the secluded position they were laying in.

I did manage a half decent shot through the wire fence of one tiger though, with a wide aperture to dissapear the wire fence.

Moving around from the tiger enclosure we crossed the Wetlands over a large bridge to the very large polar bear enclosure and pool. Unfortunately they were at the other side of the pool and quite some distance away. Managed a few shots, not so great. 

After passing through a woodland trail , the painted dogs were quite interesting and we caught the end of one of the talks, so listened in for a while. They do not "bark" like you would expect, more a high pitched ?!?!?!....... well make your own mind up if you visit!

Very close to here the baboons were entertaining....

That took us back to the entrance, and after an ice cream in the afternoon sun that nicely rounded the day off, we went back to the car and then home.

An excellent enjoyable day, and well worth a visit (or two!), no doubt we will be back as there were a few things we did not see. It was also VERY busy with parties of school children, perhaps on a final school trip before breaking up for the summer holidays.

 

Bempton Cliffs

Tuesday 30th June - Bempton Cliffs

A nice sunny day at the end of June, and thoughts turned to a trip to Bempton Cliffs near Flamborough to hopefully spot some puffins.

It was already busy when we arrived, and had changed a bit since we were last there a few years ago. The car park is now free, but there is an entrance fee (£3.50 per person) to be paid at the now larger and revamped RSPB shop/information centre.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/seenature/reserves/guide/b/bemptoncliffs/about.aspx

There are 6 main viewpoints spread out across the length of the cliff top paths.
We headed off to the left side after following the path from the vistors' centre.

Just the views from the top of the cliffs are pretty amazing looking along their length and the number of birds (thousands) nested there.

The 70-300mm zoom with 1.4x extender was just about good enough to get some isolated shots of decent quality. There was a number of photographers there with much longer (and even more expensive) lens, as well as spotters with their spotting scopes on tripods.  

It was good seeing so many birds in flight, swooping around the cliffs and parallel with the cliff top, and panning the lens got one or two half decent shots.

Plenty of nesting birds with their young.

Very difficult to spot any puffins though. Susan saw some in flight but no photos unfortunately as they tend to fly into hidden holes.

After a couple of hours we headed back and retreated to Bridlington for Fish n Chips, yum!!

Thursday 11th June 2015

Thursday 11th June 2015 - Swansea Bay/Henrhyd Falls

A bit dull to begin, but hopes of brightening we set off for Swansea, with bikes on the rack, with a plan to look around Swansea and a cycle along the prom to Mumbles. It's about the same distance/time as Cardiff from Brecon, around an hour or so.


  We managed to park near the marina. There's a long dual carriageway set back from the sea front and marina, and after a few wrong turns we found it and eventually ended up on the right side of the carriageway for parking near the marina. The centre of Swansea is then a short walk over the carriageway and through the indoor mall. We did not spend too long as we were a little underwhelmed with the shops in comparison with Cardiff. So after a fairly short walk around and a bite to eat in M&S cafe we headed back to the car park and the bikes.


A bridge (going through it) led onto the marina, and this led out via some zig-zagging steps onto the sea front. Turning right and following the excellent walkers/cycle path we headed for Mumbles, about a 5 mile easy cycle ride.

The views were great across Swansea Bay, and out to Mumbles in the distance. The cycle path ran alongside the beach for a while, and then alongside a rather busy main road, before it became quieter again and widened, following the beach once again.

The beach here was nice and sandy and you can see Swansea now in the distance.

Then looking in the other direction the view towards the headland at Mumbles.
The path was quite busy in places with both walkers/joggers and some other cyclists.

As we approached Mumbles it became even busier. We dismounted, used some facilities, wheeled the bikes past a rather large nice looking cafe/restaurant, then sat on the small harbour for a while admiring the views around the bay.

We then headed back the 5 miles, pausing once or twice to take a few more pictures and admire the beaches.

Once back at the car park we loaded the bikes up and set off back to Brecon but via Henrhyd falls as it was not too much of a diversion from the route back.


Henrhyd Falls

Not too far off the beaten track we found the car park with a few others there. I picked up my camera gear and tripod and Susan waited while I indulged myself in a few pictures of the falls.
The way down to the falls was easy to find and a fairly steepish but well trodden gravel path about half a mile or so.


http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g1475028-d6495878-r206651626-Henrhyd_Waterfall-Coelbren_Powys_Wales.html

When I arrived there were a few others there, some just having a look and a walk behind the falls. I spent a few minutes chatting to a couple of other like- minded amateur photographers who were just finishing and packing up their gear.

I waited a while as a few people were behind the falls, so set up and planned my shots.
Took the one above with long exposure, 10 stop ND filter and polariser while the shot was clear.

Soon after more people arrived and sat behind the falls for a while, so I got bored and took a long shot anyway. Due to their lack of movement during the exposure, they appered in shot.

A closer shot using 70-300mm zoom.

Finished with another long exposure, but if you look at the bottom of the shot, some bathers had decided to have a splash around and it was clear they would be some time, so took the shot anyway and their presence can be seen at the bottom near the tree. Packed up and headed back as Susan was waiting and I had already been a while. The hike back up was a bit more strenuous uphill, arrived back to the car a bit hot and ready for a drink!

Travelled back to Brecon ready to pack for the journey back home Friday, having had a good week in South Wales.