Swansea Bay Sunset

A few shots from this evening, taken from the beach near the city centre, and looking back towards Mumbles:

A shot of the town, with the tall building on the right being the Meridian Tower:

Swansea Fireworks

Tonight was the annual November 5th fireworks display here - on November 4th, when else?!

A few shots:

Others were having their own firework parties on the beach:

Sinister satanists (a.k.a. students) were performing their strange rituals nearby:

Meanwhile, across the bay, The Mumbles slept serenely in the darkness:



Wales National Airshow, 2011

Apologies for the non-nature post, but I was itching to put my big lens into action for the first time in a while, and yesterday's airshow over Swansea Bay provided the perfect opportunity. The only previous one I'd attended, two years ago, was washed out due to bad weather, so I headed down the short distance to Swansea Beach, and found a comfortable viewing point in the sand dunes near the university.

The first plane that flew over, at 12.05 p.m., was a Lancaster Bomber:

Followed quickly by the Breitling Wingwalkers:



The Meridian Tower is visible here to the right of the planes:



Then came the Royal Navy Merlin helicopter:

Tutor:

Tucano ZF378:



Upside down:

Hawk:

Search and Rescue Sea King helicopter:



Team Osprey:

Royal Navy Black Cats helicopter display team:

The R.A.F. Falcons parachute display team:

The penultimate act was The Blades aerobatic team:



Finally, the event which many seemed to have been waiting for, the famous Red Arrows:

A final flourish over the Mumbles, and they were off:

The five-hour show went amazingly quickly, and was definitely worth getting sunburnt for. I might even go back for more on Sunday!



Tiger

Now for something completely different: golf! Herewith a few shots taken on the first practice day of the recent Ryder Cup.
As I arrived, Tiger Woods was just teeing off on the first tee, so what better way to start than a few shots of the world number one?

Certainly not a one-man team, and here is Tiger with, from left to right, Steve Stricker, Hunter Mahan (partially hidden), and Zach Johnson:

Here's Tiger with his Kiwi caddy, Steve Williams:

Here's the 2009 British Open champion, Stewart Cink, practicing his putting:

And Steve Stricker also on the green:

Here's Hunter Mahan on the fairway:

And on the green:



Steve Stricker:

Matt Kuchar preparing for a putt:

Jim Furyk looking straight down the lens:

And now on to the winning team: Europe! Here's one of the Molinari brothers in action:

Young gun, Rory McIlroy, plays an iron shot, as fellow Irishman, Graham McDowell, looks on:

McIlroy again:

It would be remiss not to include a picture of Europe's captain, Colin Montgomerie:

Finally, a view back across the 18th green and down the 18th fairway. What a stunning view:

Well done, Europe, and bad luck, U.S.A.! It was a great tournament!