Cottage with a wood burner and Marine watch

At the beginning of November, I had a last-minute trip for 2019 to spend some time back on Anglesey as this year I have really fallen in love with the island and next year I hope to explore more of Wales as well as revisit Anglesey as the wild camping this year gave some beautiful moments in Nature. Rather than wild camp, we decided to book 2 Airbnbs one at Amlwch for 3 nights and one at Newborough for 2 nights. At our Almwch cottage which was located right next to the coastal path and one of my possible living locations with some amazing views and close to some really good marine mammal spotting locations at high tide the creatures are pushed a few meters from viewing areas thanks to the deep water. We were up before the sun rose to get as much light watching the sea especially as the wind was fresh and the days are shorter.

 The paths were quite muddy but as always with these trips, I prepare for everything and thanks to our new walking boots our feet were well protected. While laying against a rock and watching the sea the seals caught fish and kept us entertained for many hours.

Seals and Porpoises were great things to see but the one time a mother and calve popped up my lens blurred and I just missed my best shot of a Porpoise.

On our second part of the holiday, we decided to get the bus from Amlwch to Menai bridge for a cup of tea I made before leaving the cottage for the last time and some chocolate digestives we sat by the straits near the Britannia bridge and watched the sunrise higher in the sky let the 9am rush pass by before getting our next bus to Llangefni where we bought some.  breakfast and supplies for the day.
We ended up walking from Llangefni to Maltraeth to Newborough via one of the Red Squirrel forest areas, one thing I had not noticed before was a rope over the road from the larger Newborough forest to the smaller area of forest opposite allowing squirrels and maybe pine martens a safe route across avoiding the road.
View of the hills/mountains of North Wales

On our only full day at Newborough we headed through the forest along the sun-soaked yet empty beach to the Island and I ended up getting impatient waiting for the tide to go out I walked through the shallow water soaking my shoes through but it proved to be worth it. We walked to the further point with the highest unused lighthouse and less than a half a mile away we spotted a large pod of Dolphins I was hoping Rissos but they ended up being Bottlenoses and the closest I have seen through my camera for a while. One had a very unique cut in its fin but seemed very straight and long unlike the other members of the pod but as you can see below they were very active.

A great week and the last week away till April 2020 as I have got lots of things to do over the winter.
A lovely Autumn kayak was a lovely first trip out once I returned home this year I hope to kayak in the snow which would be amazing on this river.

Enjoy the beginning of Winter and hopefully plenty of frost and snow to come....

Regards

Mike

Top 14 Wild moments of 2014 part 1 of 2

As it's the last day of 2014 I decided to post a quick review of my top 14 wild encounters and moments from 2014. There not in any particular order as each one was very special to me.

1-My first ever Dolphin encounter at sunset on the North Wales coast at Llandudno.

2-Filming my local Mute Swan pair from nest building to egg laying to Cygnets and them leaving.

3-We had to rescue 2 Cygnets as they got separated from the other 6 and the adults and reuniting them was a very nice thing to watch.

4-Having a close encounter with a local Fox that lived next to the holiday cottage where I stay regularly.

5-A Buzzard caught a Rabbit on a cliff edge next to the sea and it flew over the sea with it while it was still alive.

6-I have been checking a regular sighting spot on the coast for Purple Sandpipers but one day in April I was climbing over some rocks on the beach and 2 birds on one rock.

7-While walking back from a summers visit to my favorite Badger sett I bumped into some fledgling Kingfishers that were still unafraid of humans.

More to come asap

Thanks for reading my blog and have a great New year

So stay wild, be happy and be safe

Mike

2 Weeks of Dolphins sightings from my Holiday in June 2014

Been putting this blog post on the back burner as I have so much to post about from my 2 weeks of Dolphin sightings on the North Wales coast as every day we were there we had sightings of Bottlenose Dolphins and one evening I had an encounter that I have always wanted.

View of the bay where we looked for Dolphins

Each morning at sunrise and before sunset in the evenings we would head to a vantage point over the sea where we would be able to see any Dolphins breaching the waters surface and we chose a lovely spot not far from the Cottage where we could see a large area of the coast then when we spotted a Dolphin we could run down a hill nearer to get right next to the sea to get a better view and hopefully photographs. 
One evening we used this technique and ended up spotting a family group of 10 Bottlenose Dolphins including calfs they came from the offshore Wind farm and started heading closer to the Little Orme allowing for some great views of individuals jumping up out of the water. Below is a few photographs that I managed to get as I ended watching the Dolphins instead of photographing them as the light began to fade as the sunset giving a orange glow over the sea and the Dolphins fins as they came right infront of us and headed around the Little Orme past Angel bay and into Llandudno bay and off around the Great Orme.
Most of the sightings we had were near the red line and pretty much used the same route while playing and feeding
A few of the best photographs I took from my evening encounter

Closest photograph I have ever got of a Bottlenose Dolphin from land on the North Wales coast

 
Photographs taken over the 2 weeks of other encounters with the pod

One afternoon we saw a pod of 5 Adults moving fast out to sea with calf's and they were being chased by 3 others which I think were males and after this sighting  we got no more encounters and as it was the end of the week I was not to bothered about not seeing them one last time before we left as that one sunset encounter was my best encounter with wildlife that I have ever had.

A few shots from the Little Orme as we headed back down to the cottage as the sunset over Llandudno bay

 My brother in silhouette photographing the sunset

I return to N.Wales for a week in September so hopefully a few more Dolphin encounters and a chance for me to use my Easy breath mask in the sea that's if the weathers still warm but with the Autumn taking hold early this year due to an early Spring/Summer we shall have to wait and see.

Thanks for visiting

Mike