Under the sea and Shelducks at Conwy

After a week and half of waiting for some warm weather with no wind blowing inland I finally got the opportunity to film in my secret bay where they is plenty of marine life under the water a few meters off the tide line. Unfortunately when we arrived I noticed a huge number a Jellyfish floating around, on the sea floor and hidden in the kelp/sea weed. As I did not want to get stung but not wanting to miss this opportunity to test my Action camera in a marine environment (The cameras are available here). I got my thermal shorts on and muscle top as I thought it beast not to fully submerge. I decide on using my selfie stick and float with a mount on to get a few test pieces of footage while avoiding getting stung.

 Me and my Action camera on a selfie stick

I kept having to keep an eye out behind me for any Jellyfish that may hit me on the back of my leg. Here's a lovely clear view before the plankton messed up the clarity as the sea started to get rough due to the tide changing.

Some of the Jellyfish under the water and what inevitably ended my filming

Here's a little piece of sample footage I managed to film and you will see a few of the Jellyfish and how clear the Irish sea is:

After leaving the bay we headed to Conwy to stock up on food supply's from a local shop in the main town. On our way back we spotted 2 Shelducks feeding quite close to the edge of the mud banks on the estuary. I have never properly photographed one feeding in it's unique way of filtering through the mud with its large red beak.
Conwy estuary on a Summers day

A few of the Shelduck feeding by putting all it's beak under the water

Thanks for reading my blog

Stay wild, be happy and be safe
 

Mike

First kayak to sea bird cliffs codename Razorbill bay PT 1

One thing that I was really looking forward to on my summer trip to North Wales was kayaking to some sea bird cliffs to photograph some of my favorite sea birds that nest on the orme cliffs that can only be reached via boat or kayak and if the timing is right another section can be reached where a small colony of Cormorants, Kittiwakes, Razorbills and the odd Fulmar can be found but I will post about that next time.
A few profile shots on the water was something I wanted to get while the water was calm as it can be quite difficult using a camera and paddling at the same time when your boat is being lifted up and down by the waves.

 

It was about 5am when we arrived at the Sea bird cliffs so I was pretty tired after carrying the gear from the cottage to the beach pumping up the kayaks then a grueling paddle to the bay area which gets submerged at high tide. So keeping an eye on the sea is key and having a marker to keep an eye when you commit to leaving before the tide gets to strong.

One of my favs the Razorbill seemed to be in good numbers compared to last year

View of the smaller Kittiwake colony

Some of the adult birds looked like they had just arrived and were beginning to build a nest which I managed to get closer shots of on the next visit.

NEXT TIME GUILLIMOTS AT RAZORBILL BAY

Thanks for reading

Mike