A range of moths

Not a great night for moth-trapping last night. Light winds and dry which is good, but the temperature dropped to 2ºC and we only got 5 moths.

I think all 5 of them were Lunar Underwings (Omphaloscelis lunosa), but as you can see from the photos below there’s quite a bit of variation in colour and intensity of the markings between them which doesn’t really help when it comes to identification.

Of course, if my identification is incorrect and I have something different then let me know. I’m still learning.

Finally after a couple of months off I got out for a windsurf session at Ynyslas today. Conditions were good as well with a 25-35 knot wind and some nice little waves. There were plenty of kite-surfers out as well and four windusrfers in total.

I took my waterproof camera with me as well and tried to get some shots, but it is surprisingly difficult when getting battered by the waves.

Well done to all those who competed in the Forest of Dean Enduro today. It looked like a great event with perfect conditions. The dry, dusty singletrack looked amazing.

I’m still under doctors orders not to ride in such things so I took a whole load of photos instead and they are now  online ready for all to see and buy: Forest of Dean Enduro Photos 2009

Here are a few as a taster, but the link above takes you to the full album. They are ordered and titled by rider number so you should be able to find yourself fairly easily. There are a few here and there where I couldn’t see the number, these should be on the last page of the gallery. Feel free to use the images on your personal blogs or for non-commercial purposes, but please keep the copyright watermark in place. You can buy a full size, non-watermarked digital image from the Forest of Dean Enduro Photo Album.

There are over 600 photos in the album so I have had to reduce the size and quality of them quite a bit for the web but the hi-res versions will be much better.

Sorry if I missed you, but I couldn’t get everyone, it’s nothing personal!

See if you are in the album here.

Our busy weekend continued with a day on the beach (after re-visiting the moth traps set the night before).

Morgan and I had a play in the sea, which gave me a chance to get my waterproof camera properly wet. It coped well and considering its size and durability I’m still pretty impressed with the photos that it takes. I used it to take all of the photos on the beach on Saturday as it is the ideal camera for such locations. I certainly wouldn’t want to be swapping lenses and playing around with my SLR whilst soaking wet and covered in sand. Somehow I don’t think it would like it.

As well as playing in the water we did some ‘beach art’ too. Some of it was for Morgan’s homework, and then we started messing around balancing pebbles and such like.

I also wanted to get some silhouetted shots of Morgan playing on the beach and quite like this one. In fact I might get it printed onto a large canvas so that we can hang it on the wall in the living room.

After collecting Morgan from school yesterday we popped in to see a friend but a Morgan was nodding off to sleep I decided to take him for a little stroll on the beach for some fresh air to revitalise him!

I had my little compact Pentax Optio W60 waterproof camera with me so I took a few shots whilst we were there. It wasn’t a particularly exciting day weather wise but with a little bit of fiddling I was able to get some decent shots.

Which is your favourite?

I’m not entirely sure what they’re doing to the Bell Tower at Aberystwyth Arts Centre but it is currently clad in an impressive looking column of scaffolding. Do you know what they’re doing?

I’d love to get up there to see the views and get some ‘almost aerial’ shots of Aberystwyth, the University Campus and the Arts Centre. Somehow I doubt that Health & Safety will allow it and I don’t quite have the nerve to ask, but as well as providing an excellent photo opportunity it would be quite an adrenalin rush too as it’s pretty high!

Should I ask and see if I can get permission to do it?

I spent the day on Sunday taking photos of the Lake Vyrnwy Half Marathon.

The Half Marathon didn’t start until 1pm, but I got up early and had hoped to get some photos of the lake as the sun rose. Unfortunately it was shrouded in mist and fog and I couldn’t see anything at sunrise!

It did clear up nicely later on though so I managed to get some shots of the dam and the straining tower but by then the light wasn’t quite so nice..

I did a geocache while I was there as well, and walked around most of the Half Marathon course. I stopped for lunch on the shores of the lake and as I was sat there saw a kingfisher perch on a branch overhanging the lake. I set my camera up ready for the perfect shot if he returned, but despite sitting there for at least an hour with the camera poised and ready to go he didn’t return… The shot that got away!

It’s certainly a nice part of Wales, especially on such a gorgeous day and I shall be back soon.

By the time the runners came round, it was early afternoon and the sun was shining. Conditions weren’t great for taken photos as there were lots of harsh shadows cast on the runners and with so many of them it was difficult to capture them all, but I got around 600 shots and I’m quite pleased with many of them.

Well done to all those who competing in and completed the Llyn Vyrnwy Half Marathon yesterday. Hope you all managed the times you were aiming for and more importantly enjoyed yourselves.

My photos are now online ready for all to see: Lake Vyrnwy Half Marathon Photos 2009

Here are a few as a taster, but the link above takes you to the whole album. They are ordered and titled by runner number so you should be able to find yourself fairly easily. There are a few here and there where I couldn’t see the number, these should be on the last page of the gallery.

Feel free to use the images on your personal blogs or for non-commercial purposes, but please keep the copyright watermark in place. You can buy a full size, non-watermarked digital image from the Lake Vyrnwy Half Marathon Photos 2009.

There are getting on for 600 photos in the album so I have had to reduce the size and quality of them quite a bit for the web. Sorry if I missed you, but I couldn’t get everyone.

I think this is the best day weather-wise that we’ve had all year. Perfect blue skies, 19ºC and a very gentle breeze. The sea is dead calm and there are very few people on the beach. Lovely.

There are some tasty looking mushrooms in the dunes too, I wonder if they are edible?

I really need to learn a little more about which fungi I can and can’t eat. I have books to identify them, but never quite have the nerve to trust my identification skills and actually gather and eat them.

Anyone got any ideas on what these are?

I got up early this morning and whilst messing around with my camera before my little photo assignment at the Lake Vyrnwy Half Marathon tomorrow I snapped this photo. Flowers make such good subjects, amazing colours, lovely textures and (as long as it isn’t windy) they don’t move either.

Looks as though it should be a lovely weekend here in Borth and with all the holiday-makers back at home and the students not yet arrived, it should be pretty quiet on the beach. I’d like to get out there an make the most of it, maybe some snorkelling or canoeing, but there’s lots of work to be done in the garden too, especially if I want some flowers like the one above.