Scottish Jellyfish

It has been widely reported that there has been a huge surge in jellyfish numbers around the British coast this summer. This year warm currents have been responsible for this increase. Tourism bosses have been trying their best to convince the visiting public that these jellyfish pose no harm.

My main motive to visit the west coast of Scotland in July was to see the basking sharks that also flock to that part of Scotland. We had no luck with the sharks; but it was fascinating to see and snorkel with the large numbers of jellyfish.

A handful of different jellyfish type are found in UK waters. It was two species that we cam across in Scotland; the Lion's Mane Jellyfish and the more common Moon Jellyfish.

The Lion's Mane jellyfish that we came across were of modest size, however, these jellyfish have been known to grow to colossal sizes. A specimen found in Massachusetts Bay in 1870 was 7 feet in diameter and it's tentacles were 120 feet in length. That's longer than a blue whale! These jellyfish have a very severe sting that can even sting long after being stranded on a beach.

The second and more common was the Moon Jellyfish. These harmless (to humans) jellyfish can grow up to 40cm in diameter and are found in almost all waters of the world, although most common in the Atlantic Ocean.

Moon jellyfish are carnivorous and feed on zooplankton like these ctenophores.

It was fascinating to watch the jellyfish as they move around the water. They are only capable of producing an upwards thrust movement and are reliant on the tides and currents of the waters for any horizontal movement and to keep them suspended. It was almost hypnotic watching their movement!

Finally here is a short video taken whilst snorkelling with the jellyfish.

British Wildlife Centre

On a Thursday back in May I attended photography workshop to concentrate on captive British wildlife. The workshop was arranged by David Lloyd at the British Wildlife Centre. David is a New Zealand born wildlife photographer known for his fine art style and recently had a photo grace the cover of the Wildlife Photographer Of The Year book. The BWC is based in Surrey and gives visitors the opportunity to get up close with and learn about native British Wildlife. They also take part in captive breeding programmes and reintroductions back into the wild.

The day started with a short briefing about what we were aiming to photograph and suitable setting for the occasion. It was a damp day but the rain managed to stay away. 

We started the day in the red squirrel enclosure. There are a number of red squirrels at the centre some of which had kittens hidden away. A member of staff was on hand with some titbits for the squirrels to tempt them over. The Centre is involved in a release programme onto Tresco in the Scilly Islands. Reds are not native to the Scilly Islands but they are free of grey squirrels which carry the squirrel pox which has ravaged the red population. 

We next moved into the fox enclosure photographing a gorgeous fox called Frodo. Said to be the most photographed fox in the world! Frodo was very well behaved but many of my photos were of him hidden behind tall grass. As with the other animals we were inside the enclosures laid down on the grass to get some intimate low level photographs.

Next was the otter enclosure to view two adults and their pup. The otters came close for food but were very skittish and would very quickly move back to the safety of the water where they were more comfortable. Some standard portraiture photos were taken then we were positioned ahead of the keeper and the food source so that we could get some running shots.

We then had a wander round the centre on our own so that we could get some shots of the stoats, weasels, badgers, mink and water voles.

The Scottish Wildcat were great to watch and photograph. The three siblings were about a year old. I had also managed to see them last year when they were very small and taking their first steps in their enclosure. These cats had kept their wild nature and lived up to their billing as being one of the most ferocious cats pound for pound!

 

Next came out a harvest mouse. Much smaller than I expected! I would have been much better equipped with a macro lens for this animal.

We finished off with another session in the fox enclosure. This time Flo made an appearance along with Frodo.

A very well organised day that made the opportunity of photographing British wildlife much easier than in the wild. Not a substitute for wild animals but very enjoyable. I would still love to see and photograph a wild otter - a chance I hope to get as I sit here typing in Scotland!

Easter weekend

Easter saw me doing what I have been doing for many years over that weekend. Making a long weekend of it back home in Wales. Back to where 15 years of my life were spent. I am very much a country boy at heart despite living in the best city in the world.

Number one on the Wales agenda was a visit to a red kite feeding station. With three options in wales we went for the shortest drive over to Llanddeusant on the edges of the Brecon Beacons. It was a beautiful day which unfortunately made the photography difficult. Never the less I came away with some photos that I was happy with.

Red kites were once common over the skies of London but numbers were reduced through persecution to a handful of pairs in central Wales in the 1980s. Numbers have now recovered to approximately more than 2,000 birds and are now a very common sight throughout Wales and are even occasionally seen flying over London. 

Saturday was spent looking for the resident Bottlenose dolphins that live in Cardigan Bay. We have been seeing dolphins along this trench of the Welsh coast for years, but it was still good to see them again. The boat trip was through www.baytoremember.co.uk. We were lucky with dolphins; probably 6 in total were seen. They were busy feeding so were not in the mood to play! Oystercatchers, shags, lesser black backed gulls, guillemots and herring gulls were also seen as well as the beautiful coastal scenery between Cardigan and Mwnt.

Herring gull

Lesser black-backed gull

The 70-200mm lens that I was hiring for the weekend (www.lensesforhire.co.uk) was given a walk around the farming community that so characterises this part of Wales. 

Other images taken over the weekend.

 

White-throated dipper

Small tortoiseshell