We're just back from yet another place on this island that has kept quiet about its hidden treasures. In just a week I've seen deserted white beaches, some adorned with rock formations of every size, shape and colour, craggy cliffs and promontories that enticingly hold back the next view of yet another stunning cove or inlet, quaint fishing villages dotted with pretty cottages of every pastel colour imaginable, wild flower-covered banks and cliffs, castles with moats, castles in ruins, and last but not least, puffins!
I think I should explain about the puffins. In 2008 we discovered the Northumberland coastline, but the initial pull was that we would be able to see the puffins on the Farne Islands - John Craven said as much on Countryfile so it must be true. We went, we saw the Farne Islands, we didn't see the puffins - we went at the wrong time of year! This was not the first time I had been at odds with nature's calendar. In 2007 we'd gone to the Isle of Skye, in part because Bill Oddie had waxed lyrical about the otters on Broadford Bay. We went there, we even went to the Otter Sanctuary and sat in a hide - not an otter to be seen. Now it has to be said that these holidays were amazing in many other ways (as you will eventually see on future blography posts and photos). So the puffins on Skomer Island were very special for me. What's more they posed just a few feet away from the camera.
My love of photographing all things natural by default includes landscape as well as wildlife, and there's an abundance of it in Pembrokeshire. The beaches are a photographer's paradise in early Spring - empty of people but full of weirdly angled coloured rocks and shifting cliffs, sympathetically arranged by nature over thousands of years. Walking across Marloes Sands was at times surreal, surrounded as we were by the unfamiliar and striking geological poses. Unlike the dark rocks of Marloes, Broad Haven beach (not to be confused with Broadhaven) was strewn with boulders in every shade of pink imaginable. St Bride's cove (not to be confused with the wide expanse of St Bride's Bay), instead had the reddest cliffs and rocks imaginable, with one headland in particular bearing an uncanny resemblance to a rare steak! But perhaps the most bizarre rock feature of all is the tiny little 11th Century Chapel built into the cliff face at St Govans. This was another recommendation from Mr Countryfile himself, John Craven, and I must say, well worth viewing.
Haven for it's location (nestled between two hills, tucked into a deep inlet), the winding single track roads with 10 foot high banks covered in wild primroses, violets and daffodils, ' bread' seaweed (everywhere on My lasting memories of Pembrokeshire will be the puffins of Skomer, Marloes for it's beautiful sands and striking rock formations, St Bride's beach for it's remoteness and red hues, NoltonlaverPembrokeshire beaches and recommended by Neil Oliver on BBC Coast, but not by us!), and last but not least, Little Haven where we were based, which offered us a perfect 'little haven' of peace for our walks with cameras.
I can't leave this post on Pembrokeshire without mentioning the amazing Pembrokeshire Coast Path National Trail. I understand it covers some 186 miles of coastline, and we must have covered no more than 30 of them in our week there. But what made it special for me was that, far from being an obvious tourist 'blot on the landscape', it was just part of the spectacular coastal scenery, hugging the tops of precipitous craggy cliffs, winding its way up and down and around the coastline, offering walkers the best possible views at every bend. I can't speak for every season, but in Spring the path winds between banks and cliffs adorned with wild flowers - thrift,campion , gorse, primroses and violets to name but a few. Here's a couple of examples which illustrate all that is special about this path ... .
I think I should explain about the puffins. In 2008 we discovered the Northumberland coastline, but the initial pull was that we would be able to see the puffins on the Farne Islands - John Craven said as much on Countryfile so it must be true. We went, we saw the Farne Islands, we didn't see the puffins - we went at the wrong time of year! This was not the first time I had been at odds with nature's calendar. In 2007 we'd gone to the Isle of Skye, in part because Bill Oddie had waxed lyrical about the otters on Broadford Bay. We went there, we even went to the Otter Sanctuary and sat in a hide - not an otter to be seen. Now it has to be said that these holidays were amazing in many other ways (as you will eventually see on future blography posts and photos). So the puffins on Skomer Island were very special for me. What's more they posed just a few feet away from the camera.
My love of photographing all things natural by default includes landscape as well as wildlife, and there's an abundance of it in Pembrokeshire. The beaches are a photographer's paradise in early Spring - empty of people but full of weirdly angled coloured rocks and shifting cliffs, sympathetically arranged by nature over thousands of years. Walking across Marloes Sands was at times surreal, surrounded as we were by the unfamiliar and striking geological poses. Unlike the dark rocks of Marloes, Broad Haven beach (not to be confused with Broadhaven) was strewn with boulders in every shade of pink imaginable. St Bride's cove (not to be confused with the wide expanse of St Bride's Bay), instead had the reddest cliffs and rocks imaginable, with one headland in particular bearing an uncanny resemblance to a rare steak! But perhaps the most bizarre rock feature of all is the tiny little 11th Century Chapel built into the cliff face at St Govans. This was another recommendation from Mr Countryfile himself, John Craven, and I must say, well worth viewing.
Haven for it's location (nestled between two hills, tucked into a deep inlet), the winding single track roads with 10 foot high banks covered in wild primroses, violets and daffodils, ' bread' seaweed (everywhere on My lasting memories of Pembrokeshire will be the puffins of Skomer, Marloes for it's beautiful sands and striking rock formations, St Bride's beach for it's remoteness and red hues, NoltonlaverPembrokeshire beaches and recommended by Neil Oliver on BBC Coast, but not by us!), and last but not least, Little Haven where we were based, which offered us a perfect 'little haven' of peace for our walks with cameras.
I can't leave this post on Pembrokeshire without mentioning the amazing Pembrokeshire Coast Path National Trail. I understand it covers some 186 miles of coastline, and we must have covered no more than 30 of them in our week there. But what made it special for me was that, far from being an obvious tourist 'blot on the landscape', it was just part of the spectacular coastal scenery, hugging the tops of precipitous craggy cliffs, winding its way up and down and around the coastline, offering walkers the best possible views at every bend. I can't speak for every season, but in Spring the path winds between banks and cliffs adorned with wild flowers - thrift,campion , gorse, primroses and violets to name but a few. Here's a couple of examples which illustrate all that is special about this path ... .
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