‘Grief is the price we pay for love.’ – Her Majesty The Queen. Long to reign over us…
Archive for the ‘Puffins’ Category
Puffins in Jack Sound, Pembrokeshire Leave a comment
In a Flap Leave a comment
This fellow’s take-off was much more impressive than what followed. He got caught up in the gusty draughts in the cliff gulley and zig-zagged seawards out of control, barely avoiding the walls with manic flapping. In fact, I suspect that was what he meant to do…
Mingulay and the Bishop’s Isles Leave a comment
I’ve just been sorting through old files and have found a large pile of old magazine articles that have never been posted here. I’ll put some up in the weeks to come; this one was published (2004?) in the now-defunct ‘Paddles’ magazine. Hope it’s useful/ interesting. ————————————————————————————— Mingulay and the Bishop’s Isles What care we [...]
Reasons Why…Shetland is the best Sea Kayaking destination in the UK 2 comments
The following article is written by Heather and was previously published in Canoe Kayak UK magazine… —————————————————————————– Reasons Why… …Shetland is the best Sea Kayaking destination in the UK There! I’ve said it. I’ll even repeat it: Shetland is the best Sea Kayaking destination in the UK. Now, before you spit in horror and say [...]
Foula – The Edge of the World 3 comments
The westernmost point of the Shetland Isles is the Isle of Foula, about 20 miles offshore. You can see the jagged outline on the horizon in the above photo, and indeed you can see this tall island from spots all over Shetland. We had to go there. Our first attempt (in dense fog and heavy [...]
Fair Isle Leave a comment
The picture above is borrowed from a splendid blog about life on Fair Isle. I’ve just been enjoying some photos on the blog of this remote island in winter. But, given that one of my pet hates is blogs simply reporting what other blogs say (or websites about other websites, etc) I’d better offer something original… [...]
Oops 2 comments
This is by far and away the most expensive photo I’ve ever taken. Whilst I was photographing my friend Steve on the River Dart yesterday, my waterproof camera bag (which was unsealed) rolled off a rock and into the river. Inside was my lovely Nikon 80-200 f2.8 lens (if you don’t understand the nerdy nomenclature, [...]
See you all at the weekend… Leave a comment
Just a note to say that all is ready for the weekend. A reminder that the general information bumf is here. Some friends are already down at the campsite; apparently the sun is shining. Tomorrow I take delivery of a large half-barrel barbeque; this will be available for use on Saturday evening, bring your own [...]
Guest Appearance Leave a comment
I’m somewhere else.
South West (Wales) Sea Kayaking 5 7 comments
We returned to the mainland on Sunday evening having paddled relatively few miles, we’d kept on stopping to say hello to the puffins! On Monday morning, deteriorating weather and work commitments had driven away most of the folk pictured above, just leaving Chris Wheeler, Heather and I. We were keen to visit Skokholm Island; via a [...]
Fratercula Arctica Leave a comment
A resident of Skomer Island Marine Nature Reserve, Pembrokeshire. Planning, research and photography for the book continues … more information to follow, watch this space!
South West (Wales) Sea Kayaking 3 6 comments
Puffin day! Sunday saw us paddling across the tide races of Jack Sound to visit Skomer Island. Skomer is home to phenomenal birdlife; 128 000 pairs of Manx Shearwaters, 20 000 pairs of guillemots, 10 000 pairs of razorbills, and 6000 pairs of puffins. All of these birds were out and about, filling the skies. [...]
South West (Wales) Sea Kayaking 1 Leave a comment
Just returned from a wonderful Bank Holiday weekend, over the border in south Pembrokeshire. More photos and a full report to follow soon …
Home on the Range 4 comments
Some months ago I bought a ‘decent’ camera. Too late for the book, though! To my shame, so far I haven’t so much as glanced at the manual and have no idea what all the (dauntingly numerous) buttons do. This weekend was a chance to try and figure out how the darned thing works. We [...]
Fratercula Arctica 3 comments
This extraordinarily tame puffin came home with us after our first visit to Lundy Island, and has resided in our living room ever since. Lundy means Puffin in old Norse. There were 3000 pairs of Puffins on Lundy in the 1930′s. Due to foraging rats and also a decline in the sand eels upon which [...]
