An afternoon at the seaside

photos taken with iPhone 4S

Andalucia

I'm back from four nights in Tarifa, southern Spain. I didn't take as many photos as I wanted, but there are a few nice ones, I hope you'll agree.


Spanish Festoon

We were a bit early for butterflies, I think. There were plenty of (migrant?) Painted Ladies about, and a couple of unidentified whites, but apart from that, we saw a couple of Spanish Festoons, some Wall Browns and a single Large Copper (I think) at Baelo Claudia


This mirador (viewpoint) on the main road between Algeciras and Tarifa was a superb place to watch birds of prey and other big things arriving from across the Strait.

On the way from the airport, we stopped awhile and saw dozens of Booted Eagles coming inland, plus Montagu's Harriers, Sparrowhawks and White Storks. I can also recommend the coffee

A thunderstorm over the mountains near La Janda


Lots of wildflowers growing on the roadside


A Cattle Egret breeding colony (in Spanish probably called an egreteria or something) was fun to watch


We went whale-watching with Turmares in the Strait of Gibraltar

The two-hour trip cost €30 and was money well spent. We sailed out towards from Tarifa towards Morocco and cruised around, looking for cetaceans. We struck gold, and found a total of 15 Pilot Whales, including a calf, and about 10 Bottle-nosed Dolphins.

Seasoned whale-watchers Del and John said the views of the Pilots were the best they'd ever had, as they rode our bow wave (the whales, that is) and breached full-length out of the water in front of us! One of the dolphins in particular was a proper show-off, tail-slapping the surface and sending a jet of water our way.

We'd stationed ourselves right at the front and got a bit wet, but it was nothing short of awesome to watch the whales and dolphins about 10 feet below us. Sometimes the dolphins turned on their sides to have a look at us and the sea shone turquoise on their white stripes.

Flipper, eat your heart out.

It was also pretty special to see migrating birds. As well as the expected Cory's and Balearic Shearwaters, we watched two Montagu's Harriers and a Hen Harrier crossing the Strait. It looked hard work... the birds had to keep flapping or they started to drift seawards...

Unfortunately, no photos cos it was a bit bouncy and I was a) concentrating on enjoying the superb views, and b) hanging onto the side.

I got quite used to having a roof terrace...

We rented an apartment overlooking Plaza San Martin, in Tarifa's old town. A fantastic place to stay, clean, well-equipped, tastefully decorated (in contrast to the others' '70s nightmare fleapit) and handy for all local amenities - shops, seafront, restaurants, bars... I'd definitely stay there again.

Screaming Pallid Swifts and squawking Lesser Kestrels overhead were the icing on the cake.

Pallid Swift over said terrace. Took lots of shots, but they were flipping difficult


Griffon Vulture near Bolonia

We made a couple of visits to a mountainside somewhere above Bolonia, on the Atlantic coast. Another good place for watching migration - eagles, harriers and Bee-eaters. Nearby were cliffs with a couple of Griffon Vulture nests, singing Blue Rock Thrushes and the wonderful Spanish Festoon.

Artful graffiti in Tarifa


At Baelo Claudia, the remains of a Roman fish-sauce factory.

Well worth a visit, for the Black-eared Wheatears alone, and it was also quite interesting. And free. Baelo Claudia was famous throughout the ancient world for its garum - the fish sauce that Heston Blumenthal tried to make

More photos are on my Flickr account

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D + EF 300mm f/4L IS USM, or Canon Powershot A640

And now for something completely different

I'm back from Another Place, the Antony Gormley installation on Crosby beach, Merseyside. There are 100 life-sized metal figures on the beach. When the tides are at their highest, they can all be submerged totally.

When we were there, the tide was on its way out. New sculptures appeared all the time, which was weird. It shows the power of nature, or that whoever put them in did a really good job in making sure they didn't get dragged out to sea. They're mounted on metre-long piles sunk into the beach.

I remember reading some conservationists' concerns that the sculptures might scare birds off, but we watched a flock of Sanderlings scurrying around right next to one. I guess the increased numbers of visitors might be more of an issue, but it was pretty empty while we were there, on a blowy Tuesday afternoon.

The Starlings were in the car park, close to the ice-cream van and mobile burger bar. They were mostly males, congregating next to people who were sitting in their cars. The birds sang while they waited.

More on Flickr

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D + EF 300mm f/4L IS USM or Canon Powershot A640

Surf's up!

On the beach at Minsmere

Looking towards Southwold

The great British (?) tradition, the sandcastle

Ringed Plovers fleeing from the bank holiday crowds

Sizewell at 6.34 am. The Kittiwakes were screeching already

Darren tried seawatching but didn't see anything except butterflies...

Red Admirals (and a few Small Tortoiseshells) were crossing the North Sea (presumably from the Netherlands). This one made landfall on a nice warm metal NT sign

Can you feel the sand between your toes?

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Beach

Sea: North Sea, Minsmere beach. Legs: model's own. Thanks Darren...

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Bempton

Auks on the cliffs

It's raining out at sea

Went to the East Riding of Yorkshire for a couple of days with my Mum. The main purpose was for family history research (which you can read about here if you have the inclination) but it would have been silly not to make a brief visit to Bempton while we were in the area.

It was a cold, windy evening and I didn't have any binoculars with me, but there were still plenty of birds around. Gannets cruised past and the cliff ledges were filled with Guillemots and Razorbills hanging onto them, while Kittiwakes and Fulmars flew by.

Can't wait to go back in about a month's time when the birds have young and it's really exciting.

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Beside the seaside

Holkham Gap








Titchwell


Burnham Overy Staithe

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995