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Tuesday 31 July 2012

A Bird of Prey day to remember

A small confession before I start, the previous Barn Owl pic is not a wild bird, although I wish it was, I have always had a real love of birds, and more especially getting them in front of my camera, but I have a real affinity with birds of prey, they really do fascinate me, and I take every opportunity I get to see and photograph them. With this in mind, when my mum told me about Eaton Hall, the home of the Duke of Westminster, that they had a garden open day, and there was a falconry display, that was it we were going. So Sharon and I went there Sunday last, and what a great day it was, the birds of prey on display were stunning, and the guy whose birds they were, Terry Large, was brilliant, so knowledgable and eager to help me with my photography, to the point were he let me in to his enclosure to photograph the birds close up, and little did I know then but he called me into the arena during the show so that I could photograph the falcons diving for the lures. A great day, lots of photos, a real happy bunny!!!

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Eagle Owl

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Buzzard

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Peregrine/Saker swooping in

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Sharon with a Harris Hawk

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Bengalese Eagle Owl

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A beautiful Barn Owl nicely sitting in an Oak tree

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Buzzard

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This is related to our own Barn Owl, but comes from the Dominican Republic

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Sharon in the court yard in the Hall

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In for the kill, right down the camera!!

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Eagle Owl

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Coming soon.... Owl fest!!!

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Monday 30 July 2012

The Carneddau


Last Saturday, after what seemed like an eternity, Sharon and I finally made it back into Snowdonia for a long walk up on the high ones. We had planned a walk we had both wanted to do for a long time, up the front face of Pen Yr Ole Wen from Ogwen, which I had done but Sharon hadn't, a real steep ascent literally straight from the car, with a great little scramble near the top. Upon reaching the top of Pen Yr Ole Wen, after constantly gazing over the stunning view into Cwm Idwal, we started across to Carnedd Dafydd, and then Carnedd Llewellyn. But as is the case on our walks, the morning sunshine was quickly replaced with cloud, the wind got up and it started raining, and boy did it rain. It was like the middle of winter, not the end of July!! For the next hour or so it never stopped, torrential rain and strong wind, and then we came across a couple of guys who had planned a similar route to us but were pretty much lost, they asked could they follow  us onwards!! As we reached the ridge up onto Pen Yr Helgi Du, we had already decided to save that for another day, as we were wet through and very cold, so we descended into the valley and headed back.......... and you've guessed it the bloody sun came back out and it brightened up, by the time we got back to the car we were both virtually dried out. A great day though, in a stunning part of Snowdonia, a few memories below, hope you enjoy and feel free to comment.

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Cwm Idwal from lower down on Pen Yr Ole Wen

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Y Garn

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Cwm Idwal a little higher up

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Tryfan

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Cwm Idwal from the top of Pen Yr Ole Wen
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The Glyders

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Sharon struggling to stay on the edge in the wind

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We think they were training!!

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We came across a beautiful group of Carneddau ponies

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Tryfan from Ogwen Cottage