Sunny Morning at Pennard Cliffs

Yesterday dawned warm and sunny, so I decided to head out for a walk along Pennard Cliffs on the Gower Peninsula.

There was unusual clarity to the air, allowing uninterrupted views of the beautiful landscape:

One of the many Herring Gulls that were flying overhead:

I was hoping I might be able to photograph the local population of Choughs, but the few birds I saw were at the base of the cliffs, up to a hundred yards away. Instead, I turned my macro lens to the flower-studded clifftop grassland.

A couple of shots of Greater Knapweed:

Yellow-wort:

White Clover:

It was past the main flowering period of Thrift, but there were still some blooms in evidence:

Salad Burnet:

This tiny flower was growing in some numbers in the short turf, and was just a couple of inches tall (anyone know what it is?):

Germander Speedwell:

Whitethroats were plentiful amongst the gorse bushes. I managed a couple of pictures of a pair which I guessed must have had a nest nearby:

A pair of Linnets perched on another gorse bush as I passed, and I managed this shot of the female:

By early afternoon, the sky was beginning to cloud over, and by the time I got back to Swansea it was raining!



Woodchat Shrike and Linnets

I went out to the Gower Peninsula late this afternoon, hoping to see the shrike again. This time, I walked along the grassy path above the beach, heading from Rhossili towards Llengennith. Looking up towards the ridge of Rhossili Down to my right, I saw several birds of prey soaring above, including at least a couple each of Kestrels and Buzzards, and at least one Peregrine. All, unfortunately, too far away for any decent photos. On arrival at the other end of the beach, I found the shrike in its usual place, and set about getting a few shots. I dug my Canon 7D out of retirement for the day, hoping the extra megapixels over my other cameras would help in cropping any distant pictures. However, I found, again, that the pictures from this camera are just too grainy for my taste. Anyway, a couple of the better shots:

Whilst I was waiting for the shrike to return to its usual perch, a pair of Linnets appeared, enabling this shot of the colourful male:

And this of his onlooking mate:

After an hour or so, I walked back along the beach to Rhossili, and took this shot looking back to where I had just come from:

It was a good day to be on Gower.