Mumbles

Yesterday, I made the short rip round to Mumbles, a small settlement at the far western end of Swansea Bay. I had heard that Grey Seals had been seen hauling themselves up onto rocks at Limeslade Bay, so this was my first port of call:



Unfortunately, there were no seals to be seen, so I walked only a few yards to the adjacent bay, Bracelet Bay:

This is a good spot for Black-headed Gulls and the mucher rarer Mediterranean Gulls. Here is a juvenile Mediterranean Gull:

Note that the Med. Gull has a much thicker and more downturned bill than the more slender beak of this adult Black-headed Gull:

I then made a brief visit to Mumbles Pier:

There were very few birds remaining at the Kittiwake colony, this juvenile being the most confiding:

It seemed to spend most of its time alternately preening:

and resting:

and occasionally calling:

This adult bird was the only other Kittiwake on this once-crowded ledge:

This pair of pigeons had taken over the area vacated by Kittiwakes:

I walked along to the end of the pier, where the only other people were a few fishermen, and spotted this auk floating below on the sea (Is it a juvenile Razorbill?):

As I was leaving, I spotted this Great Black-backed Gull perched atop a post. I had to stop for a few pictures, as I hadn't photographed this species satisfactorily before, always finding them a bit skittish:

I was surprised how close this bird allowed me to approach:

Kittiwakes, etc.

Marram Grass growing in the dunes, with the late evening sun shining onto the beach beyond:

The Swansea to Cork ferry leaving Wales and heading off to Ireland at dusk:

A Herring Gull in flight:

I paid a visit to the Kittiwake colony on Mumbles Pier on Sunday. No sign of any hatchlings yet, but plenty of birds on eggs. A few pictures from the visit:

Here's a short video of some squabbling in the colony:

Kittiwakes

Yesterday, I went round to Mumbles Pier at the western end of Swansea Bay; to check on how the Kittiwake colony was getting on, and to see if my newly-purchased Canon 40D would fare any better on birds-in-flight than my previous efforts with the 7D. I certainly got more sharp flight shots than with the 7D (using a Canon 70-200mm f/4 lens), but I'm still not entirely happy with the percentage of sharp shots. Anyway, here are a few of the pictures:

This bird was bringing seaweed to its nest-site:

The town of Swansea can be seen in the background here:

Almost every possible nesting site seems to be occupied:

So much so, that this pair seem to have started a nest-site in isolation on the probably less-than-ideal sloping edge of the lifeboat station that adjoins the pier:

Perhaps one of this pioneering pair flying in front of the lifeboat station:

The following two shots show the potential dangers of the birds sharing their world with careless fishermen, who don't dispose of their used hooks and line responsibly (in previous years, I've seen birds with hooks stuck in their beaks):

Here's a shot of a bird tending to its eggs on the nest:

Finally, here are a couple of videos of the colony:

I hope to return to the colony later in the year, and document the chicks as they grow.

Mumbles Pier

At the far western end of Swansea Bay, is Mumbles Pier:

At least since I have been visiting Swansea (about 13 years), it has been home to a thriving colony of Kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla):

I had heard that the birds had returned to their nestsites, and so I went round there today to check on their progress, and also to try out my Canon 7D coupled with a Canon 70-200 f/4 lens, to see how the combination performed on the birds in flights. I had been very disappointed with the results I had obtained with the 7D in conjunction with my Sigma 500mm f/4.5, but as this lens has also been producing out-of-focus images with my 40D, I wanted to see how the 7D performed with the shorter zoom. Looking at the results of the flight shots from the day, I have to say I am not too pleased: About half of the images were fairly obviously unsharp (possibly due to user error), and the other half (user the central autofocus sensor and servo focus mode) were of dubious sharpness (borderline if they would be accepted by my agency). Here's one of the better images:

Doesn't look too bad at this size, with a bit of quick sharpening and saturation added to the RAW file, but have a look at this 100% unsharpened crop with no adjustments:

This isn't the sharpest flight shot I got today, but it is typical of the results I was getting. Does it look sharp to you? To me (and I haven't done a direct side-by-side comparison yet), it looks rather less sharp and detailed than shots I was getting from my 40D which have been upsized to similar dimensions as the 7D files. The 7D also seems to produce much more noticable grain than uprezzed 40D pictures (this shot was taken at ISO 200).

Anyway, here are three more shots taken at the colony: