Sighting: Golden Ringed Dragonfly

Having spent some 6 years now living beside the harbour ‘gap’ in Aberystwyth I feel I have come to know the area and it’s inhabitants rather well. Even so there is still the occasional new sighting to surprise me. Whilst the delicate damselflies are a relatively common sight during the heat of the summer I…

Sighting: Black Headed Gull (first winter)

My blog has been rather neglected in recent weeks, with lots of half written adventures and a pile of unedited photos still waiting to be looked at. Today I resisted the urge to head out under yet another brilliant blue sky and instead finally sort through several weeks of accumulated images… It was back at…

Sighting: Bullfinch

After a couple of bitterly cold weeks, now it really is starting to feel like spring is just around the corner. With the sun shining bright yesterday I was keen to get out and explore a recently discovered ‘patch’, the Rhydyfelin cycle path. This short stretch of the Ystwyth trail may not sound like an…

A pier with a view!

A few evenings ago I wanted to capture the nightly starling spectacle here in Aberystwyth a little differently. Rather than observing from my usual seafront vantage point, on this occasion I hoped to capture a unique perspective right from the heart of the action. Thanks to the assistance of Hannah and the Royal Pier bar…

It’s that time of year again…

It was almost a year ago that I stood in this very spot, photographing the annual starling spectacle here in Aberystwyth and what a difference a year can make! Whilst the annual cycles of nature change very little, unfortunately our human world is now a very different place with a global pandemic filling all our…

Sighting: Otter

The otter has always been one of my favourite creatures, but being such an elusive animal and still relatively rare here in the UK, I never expected to see one in the wild. That was until reports began to surface on local wildlife groups of a new resident on the nearby waterways. As more and…

Sighting: Grey Phalarope

Sadly there was no sign of the elusive otter at Tanybwlch beach this morning. Instead a tiny Grey Phalarope was causing quite the stir, attracting a small but enthusiastic crowd of local birdwatchers armed with scopes, binoculars and some rather impressive camera gear! Whilst it may not have looked particularly out of place, this bird…