Spring 2009 part 1 - Land, sea and sky awakes!


BACK TO WEATHER-BLOG MENU

New! Fine Art Prints & digital images for sale-
Welsh Weather & Dyfi Valley landscapes Slide-Library - Click HERE

Into mid-March and high pressure dominates the weather, so that it is at last warming up nicely, for what feels like the first time since October 2008!

Prior to that, March 4th and March 8th both saw chances of photogenic convection which I met up with at Borth. Both saw largely messy structure but the rough seas were set off nicely by watersports enthusiasts!


Convective clous at Borth - 4th March 2009


These two images are from the 4th - the above one shows a nice towering cumulus going up - a sure sign of a bit of heat about! The one below happened - a bit like most weather - by pure chance!


Surfer - Borth


The 7th saw very rough seas, dark skies and heavy downpours of rain, hail and snow, but was largely poor for good cloudscapes. I concentrated on the rough seas, with their kite-surfers and black backdrop, in the morning...


Kitesurfing at Borth



Kitesurfing at Borth


...and, in the afternoon, on a windsurfer as the wind and sea both got up even more with a very heavy shower going past in the background. Thunder was heard in several parts of Wales during the afternoon....


Windsurfing, Borth


This storm swung a rough-looking gust-front SE over my position and threw horizontal snow at me for a few minutes, although its main core rolled onshore further to my north, where it hailed very heavily....


Windsurfing, Borth


As the downpour cleared, a spreading anvil became visible from a mature storm-cell miles out to sea; this predictably decayed as it moved onto the coast, and it was time to call it a day!


Thunderstorm anvil, Borth

Apart from those two trips, the relative absence of photogenic weather has given me the chance to try my hand at something different - wildlife photography, which turns out to be quite a tricky business! I thought I might post the first results anyway.

About ten days ago, I was heading towards Talybont via the back-lanes, after dropping off a big sign I had made for a customer, when I came across a large flock of red kites, and I had the DSLR handy.....


Red kites


Once a noteworthy sight, the recovery of the kite has been a major success story here in Mid Wales. Today, sights like this are not that uncommon....


Red kites


There's a lot to suss out with digital photography and the mistake I made here was not cranking the ISO setting up, thereby taking shots at too slow an exposure
. I reviewed the results and decided to return to the same spot on a sunny day as soon as I could.... and make sure I set the ISO to get faster exposures (these three were all taken at ISO 200).....


Red kites



Monday 16th March brought plenty of warm sunshine so I thought I'd give it a go. The verges were ablaze with Celandines - a sure sign that the land is waking up after the long, dreary winter's sleep...


Lesser Celandine


When I arrived, there was not a kite to be seen. Typical! I decided to hang around for a while and see what might turn up. After ten minutes or so, a group of kites arrived, nowhere near as many as before, but to make up for it, there was a fascinating confrontation with a buzzard. Now what was that - ah, yes - ISO 500!


Red kite and Buzzard


The buzzard was acting quite aggressively......


Red kite and Buzzard


...but the kites seemed to decide to gang together!


Red kite and Buzzard


...and a twisting, swirling dogfight ensued!


Red kite and Buzzard


Getting personal! Buzzard is lower bird in contact on the RHS of the image....


Red kite and Buzzard


....until the buzzard seemed to decide it had had enough! One of the kites was determined to chase after it though...



Red kite and Buzzard


The victors!


Red kite


I was better pleased with these images, but I'm sure I can improve on them.... a longer lens would help (these were all taken at 200mm), but I'll have to win the Lottery first! The 12-200mm range I have does most weather situations happily enough for now, so I'm not going to lose sleep on the matter!

The same day, I saw the first butterfly of the year - this Comma. Looks like it has had a narrow escape from something that had a bit of its right wing!


Comma butterfly


It's my favourite time of year and I don't think I'm alone in that sentiment. Winter can have a beauty to it but it drags and - I think it's the low light levels and short days - there is something deeply depressing about it, for me. Spring has the opposite effect - and there's summer to look forward to - catching mackerel and cooking them over a fire, lots of big thunderstorms and many other such delights! Bring it on!




BACK TO WEATHER-BLOG MENU

New! Fine Art Prints & digital images for sale-
Welsh Weather & Dyfi Valley landscapes Slide-Library - Click
HERE