The This Way Up bus

Spotted in Colwyn Bay. No idea what it's for but it sure does look striking.

Sad Eyes

Sea Lions at play

Another daily scheduled event at the zoo is the feeding and training of the Sea Lions. Waving the crowds and performing tricks appear to be mandatory.

Sleeping Tiger

Dozing in the shade, avoiding the mid-afternoon sunshine.

Unhappy

Don't you just want to give him a hug?


 

Penguin Parade

The Penguins get a daily march around the grassy hill at the zoo, trailing after a bucket full of fish. It's a bit of free-for-all for the fishy treats, with seagulls flying in to help themselves as well.

Bear in close-up

Eyes Wide Open

Lurking just beneath the water, this Mississippi Aligator sure is curious. about what's going on around his enclosure.

Hawk

Phil Spector Duck

That's quite the tuft of hair you've got going on there Mister Duck.




And here's the side view.

The Otters of Conway Water Gardens

A recent visit to North Wales brought about a wealth of wildlife photography both at the Conway Water Gardens and Welsh Mountain Zoo. I'll be running them as a series of posts on an hourly basis both today and Thursday.

Blowing in the Wind

One Wet Little Fella

Looks like someone had fun playing in the sea.

Chip Stealers

Sat on a seat overlooking New Quay beach, I witnessed these little fellows helping themselves to some discarded chips, flying away with them before coming back for more. 

A Line In The Sand

Whilst visiting White Sands beach, I started using the pointy end of a golfing umbrella (t'was a wet and mildly windy day) to trace the outline left by the tide on it's way out. The thought occurred that it could be an interesting project - find a nice small sandy beach and - as the tide goes out - trace the waves outline every 15 minutes or so, tracking the seas withdrawal as the beach is uncovered, leaving behind the lines in the sand that'll soon be washed away.

Red Kite Feeding at Nant Yr Arian

The Nant Yr Arian Forestry Commission site is a beautiful little location, a small lake surrounded trees with a pathway wending its way around it. It’s an extremely picturesque place and home to all sorts of wildlife, but what makes the site a truly special place is that everyday at the same time (3pm in the winter, 2pm in the summer), it is a feeding station for around 100 to 150 Red Kites.

There's 2 main places where you can watch the birds feed - the first a flat piece of land on the opposite side of the lake to the feeding area where most people congregated, the second a hide which is just next to the feeding site but with limited space. The Kites start arriving about 20 minutes before feeding time, the sky slowly filling up as more and more arrive and they descend lower and lower in preparation. A large number of crows also arrive during this time, presumably interested in trying to steal a free lunch. Bang on the hour, one of the staff appears in the small clearing on the restricted side of the lake. and starts spreading 10kg of beef over a wide area. As they left the area, the birds started coming in closer to help themselves to the food.

It's an amazing sight to watch, as they swoop down from the sky to snatch up the pieces of meat, chasing after each other and also the ever-present crows. But on the day I visited, the Kites seemed rather hesitant to actually feed en masse. I’m guessing this was because of the noise from the visitors as I later observed that once the number of people lake-side had shrunk in number, the birds were a lot happier feeding.

For more information on this rather wonderful daily event, there's more information available on forestry commission site.

Devil's Bridge Falls

The Devils Bridge Falls truly are a wonderful sight. Crossed by the thrice-built Devil's Bridge, which gives it's name to the village and falls, there are two separate pathways that allow you to see both the bridge and waterfalls. The first, a short and sweet 10 minute walk which starts on the left hand side of the road and on the other side is a longer, 45 minute walk which descends steeply down one side of the falls before climbing back up the other. If I had to pick between the two, I'd have to choose the second as the pathway allows you both to see the full extent of the falls and also to get right up close in certain areas.

Brick Balance

A quick bit of balancing down on the beach.

Betws Falls

I took the new camera with me on a trip to North Wales over the weekend to test it out and see what I could do with the zoom lens - a piece of kit I've not had the pleasure of playing with before. Here's just a few of the results...