Pembrokeshire birds of prey

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I've just returned from a fabulous week at St David's in Wales. Even in September the Pembrokeshire coastline is alive with wildlife. The weather was pretty fantastic too although it was windy enough to blow over my tripod and damage the lens mount on my trusty 400mm lens. Fortunately the optics seem fine and the lens still focuses, but both it and the 7D will have to go in for repair at Fixation this week.

Also, fortunately that it happened the day after a close encounter with a peregrine, and not the day before! I'm loving the fact that I can just spin the dial to one of my custom modes and be all set up for flight shots!

Peregrine Falcon

St David's is well-placed for an exploration of the cliffs and the RSPB reserve on Ramsey Island. For anyone making the trek there I heartily recommend Amber Cottage as a base. I could not have asked for a better place from which to conduct operations!

On unexpected sunshine

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Today the weather forecast was uniformly dull and grey, but I decided I needed some fresh air in my lungs so I headed down to St Aldhelm's Head (near Swanage in Dorset). The plan was to see if I could find any early guillemots or terns. Sadly there were none - although I saw plenty of gulls, fulmars and rock pippits. The highlight of the day, however, was this peregrine falcon.

Peregrine Falcon

I spotted it initially because it was being mobbed by a number of jackdaws. After that it made several passes along the cliff at a distance and then one very near flyby during which I managed this shot. Not the greatest peregrine photograph. Sadly its flying out of the sun so its head is in shadow - but it is the first time I've managed to get a camera on a wild peregrine so I'm reasonably pleased with it.