places

Some more shots from our recent visit to South Wales.  The weather was great and we fancied a trip to the seaside, we ended up in Barry as that was the nearest place we could spot on the map.  What a place, like many British seadside resorts it's seen better days but it was great to see so many different types of people of all ages enjoying themselves.

I took the opportunity to practice some candid photography and tried to get some shots that captured the feel of the place.

Crabstix!

A gorgeous day

I'm not looking

A quiet beach

We were in South Wales for a long weekend recently, the weather was gorgeous and we decided to visit Cosmeston Lakes near Penarth which was formerly a Limestone Quarry and is now a country park.

There was plenty of insect life enjoying the sun, including a number of dragonflies patrolling their territory (and fighting over it), there were several large Emporer Dragonflies (Anax imperator) over one pond and I finally managed to get a reasonable shot of a dragonfly in flight (after a number of less successful attempts last year). I used a Canon 100-400mm lens resting on a fence post for a bit of stability and manually focussed whenever the Dragonfly hovered for a while, it took quite a few goes but I eventually got one that I was happy with.

Emperor Dragonfly

Common Darter

We went for a walk round Buckden in North Yorkshire at the weekend, Claire was meeting some of her colleagues there as they were scouting the place out before taking a school trip there in a few weeks.  It seems to be a lovely area of the countryside and we had a nice walk.  The weather was extremely variable, we had some lovely sunshine at times but also had to contend with hail, rain and strong winds.   The recent heavy rains ensured that the streams were all full and fast flowing.  There were a few waterfalls in view but the one I have included here was the only

Walking

Waterfall near Buckden

Tree

Another Barn

The Yorkshire Sculpture Park near Wakefield is great for a day out, we 've been a few times recently and there's always somewhere else to wander and something else to see.  The kids enjoy it and so do I as there's a number of good photo opportunities.  The park was originally landscaped 200 years ago and for the last 30 years the YSP have been exhibiting sculptures there, many in the lovely surroundings of the park and some in indoor galleries.  They have a number of exhibitions and from what I can tell things do seem to move and change there from time to time, so I doubt we'

Totem Pole

One Sculpture

Through the round window

Hare and Anvil

Formby Point on Merseyside is one of the last remaining strongholds of the Red Squirrel in the UK. It's owned by the National Trust and non-members pay a small fee for parking. You'll probably want a bag of squirrel food which is available here. There are around 1000 Red Squirrels the majority thought to descend from some squirrels that were brought over from Eastern Europe during the 1940's, this means that they are somewhat darker than usual for the UK. They inhabit an area of pine woodland originally planted by local farmers to stabilise the sand dunes.

Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

We went through the Piazza del Popolo on the way to the Villa Borghese this was yet another impressive location with an Egyptian Monolith in the centre (which was covered for restoration unfortunately).  I liked the fountain of Neptune and two Tritons riding dolphins.

Piazza del Popolo

Piazza del Popolo

Piazza del Popolo

Piazza del Popolo

Some more pictures from the Bridgewater Place development in Leeds now much of the shell has been built round the central core it's much clearer exactly how big and imposing the place will look when it's completed.

These shots were taken on my EOS 5D with a Tamron 17-35mm lens I've not used the lens much as something that wide has limited uses but it seems capable of producing great images.

Bridgewater Place

Bridgewater Place

Bridgewater Place

Bridgewater Place