Wales 2011

While trying to decide what to do for our holiday in June, we saw an advert for a whale and dolphin watching holiday in Wales so decided to go there. It also included a lot of bird watching time so seemed to be ideally suited to us. We booked through Ocean Adventures because the programme looked really interesting. We saw loads of stuff so there are a lot of photos to see. To make it easier, I've split the page into a few parts (just click where you'd like to go):

We'll start with St. David's on this page then move on to the islands.

Maurice the cat and Ruby the dog were also very friendly - I didn't have my camera to hand when Maurice was making himself comfy on Jonathon's knee.

As you can see it's not a busy place. There were a few cars around but there's a one way system so everyone goes round in the same direction. The photo below left is the high street, immediately left is St David's War Memorial Garden and below right is St David's City Cross. The photo on the right is just to show dual language (we can't speak any Welsh at all!)

St David's is the smallest city in Britain. It's more akin to a village really but it has a lovely cathedral, hence city.

The cathedral has some lovely stained glass windows ...

... some very interesting floors ...

... some beautiful ceilings ...

... lots of altars of varying styles ...

... and a few shields. The one on the left is of three Red-billed Choughs, a local bird.

This Icon of Elijah was presented to the cathedral in the 1960s

carving

There was a lot of wood around (as you can see from some of the ceiling photos above). This carving caught my eye - all different musical instruments.

bishops palace

Next to the cathderal are the ruins of the Bishops Palace - we didn't explore these

Leaving the City and the cathedral behind, we spent a lot of time out and about on the water and/or the islands with our cameras. The main aim of the holiday was to see wildlife - marine and feathered - and we had a great guide in Lyndon.

group

This was the group we were on holiday with - a first for us to go on a group holiday but it seemed to work quite well.

boat

This is the boat we spent quite a bit of time on - more time than expected one day because the hydraulics went. Not a problem for us - it was a lovely sunny day and we were just off Skomer Island, home to thousands of puffins so we were quite happy to sit and watch (and try to photograph ) them - they move so fast!

resuce

This is the sister boat alongside our boat - coming to the rescue! We all got home safe and sound and the boat was fine again the next day.

boat

This is what it looks like on the move!

coastal path

The coastal path and a good spot to wander along to take photos of various birds

view

Quite a rocky coastline - probably why so many birds like it.

view

Lots of different sorts of lichen grow on the rocks

view

These photos are of Ramsey Sound

sea

As always on our nature holidays, the sea conditions change from day to day (or even intraday). Sunday was lovely in the afternoon but ....

sea

... Monday's forecast was good and we came in drenched because the wind got up and the sea got a bit choppy.

While Jonathon played with his new tripod and gimbal head (whatever one of those is!) I went off to look for flowers to photograph.

One day we went over to Ramsey Island - a beautiful sunny day and a really beautiful island to explore. Lyndon kept us entertained naming the birds for us and telling us stories!

I've put the views, sundry photos and 4 legged mammals in this Ramsey section but I've included the birds and plants etc in the relevant sections on the nature page.

boat

It was interesting sitting on Ramsey Island watching this boat navigate round all the tricky currents and undertows in Ramsey Sound.

dog

This dog was with one of the farmers - looking very relaxed in its plastic crate!

sheepdog

Whereas this one was far more interested in playing in the mud around this pool!

view

This rock reminded me of a dog - now named Dog Rock (by Jonathon!)

group

It was really peaceful on Ramsey - we hardly saw anybody else all day until we got back to base.

deer

These red deer live on the island. In former times, they were farmed but most were rounded up when it wasn't profitable (earlier owners). These apparently escaped the rounding up!

This is Lyndon with Jonathon and me. Unfortunately he'd forgotten his camera when we went to Ramsey but was really good at using his binoculars and spotting things for us to try and photograph!

sheep

It is a working farm, owned by the RSPB, so there are sheep and cattle around

Another day we ventured off to Skomer Island to see the Puffins (and anything else that was around). Again, I've put a few views etc here but the birds, animals are on the nature page.

One of us had to get up very early to be collected by Lyndon at 6 a.m. (as Jonathon had to bring the others later, guess who got up!). The early start was worth it (we had to get in the queue to get tickets to get there!) The puffins were lovely as was the island.

It wasn't a long ride - queueing for the tickets took much longer - but it was a very busy boat when we went over. This is what it looked like as it pulled into the harbour to pick us up.

rabbit

There were quite a few rabbits on the island - this photo is specially for Helen C as I know how much she loves them!!!!

There seemed to be a lot more flowers on Skomer than Ramsey - perhaps due to no sheep being here? Whatever the reason they made for a very pretty island.

puffin

Yes, I know this is a bird photo. The Puffins were one of the main reasons for the holiday so they are on all the pages, including a special one, just for them!

We went to Grassholme Island on the Monday and Thursday (not to land, just to look). It's one of the largest gannet colonies in Britain - we were surrounded by them!

You can see how different the weather was on the two days we visited!

grassholme

The white tops of the island are nesting birds!

sunset

These two sunsets were from our room window whereas the one on the right was at Strumble Head where we went to look for Manx Sheerwaters (and found them but not in the droves that we'd hoped for).

Would we go back - yes! It's another one to add to the list and it's so much easier putting everything in the car boot rather than packing for a flight. We were really lucky with the weather which undoubtedly helped the holiday but the bird life, marine life etc was great so definitely worth another look sometime.

Wales 2011
While trying to decide what to do for our holiday in June, we saw an advert for a whale and dolphin watching holiday in Wales so decided to go there. It also included a lot of bird watching time so seemed to be ideally suited to us. We booked through Ocean Adventures because the programme looked really interesting. We saw loads of stuff so there are a lot of photos to see. To make it easier, I've split the page into a few parts (just click where you'd like to go): We'll start with St. David's on this page then move on to the islands.
St. David's Grassholme Island	Ramsey Island Skomer Island	Nature photos Puffins Cardiff
We stayed at Alandale Guest House, St David's where Rob & Gloria Pugh looked after us very well - the food was delicious and they were very friendly. The view from our window was very pretty and, facing west, we also saw lovely sunsets on the days when we were in the right place at the right time (see bottom of page).
Maurice the cat and Ruby the dog were also very friendly - I didn't have my camera to hand when Maurice was making himself comfy on Jonathon's knee.

	As you can see it's not a busy place. There were a few cars around but there's a one way system so everyone goes round in the same direction. The photo below left is the high street, immediately left is St David's War Memorial Garden and below right is St David's City Cross. The photo on the right is just to show dual language (we can't speak any Welsh at all!)

St David's is the smallest city in Britain. It's more akin to a village really but it has a lovely cathedral, hence city.
	The cathedral has some lovely stained glass windows ...
		... some very interesting floors ...

... some beautiful ceilings ...

	... lots of altars of varying styles ...


	... and a few shields. The one on the left is of three Red-billed Choughs, a local bird.
This Icon of Elijah was presented to the cathedral in the 1960s
There was a lot of wood around (as you can see from some of the ceiling photos above). This carving caught my eye - all different musical instruments.
	Next to the cathderal are the ruins of the Bishops Palace - we didn't explore these
Leaving the City and the cathedral behind, we spent a lot of time out and about on the water and/or the islands with our cameras. The main aim of the holiday was to see wildlife - marine and feathered - and we had a great guide in Lyndon.
This was the group we were on holiday with - a first for us to go on a group holiday but it seemed to work quite well.	This is the boat we spent quite a bit of time on - more time than expected one day because the hydraulics went. Not a problem for us - it was a lovely sunny day and we were just off Skomer Island, home to thousands of puffins so we were quite happy to sit and watch (and try to photograph ) them - they move so fast!
This is the sister boat alongside our boat - coming to the rescue! We all got home safe and sound and the boat was fine again the next day.	This is what it looks like on the move!	The coastal path and a good spot to wander along to take photos of various birds
		Quite a rocky coastline - probably why so many birds like it.
Lots of different sorts of lichen grow on the rocks	These photos are of Ramsey Sound


	As always on our nature holidays, the sea conditions change from day to day (or even intraday). Sunday was lovely in the afternoon but ....	... Monday's forecast was good and we came in drenched because the wind got up and the sea got a bit choppy.
Our boat went from the lifeboat station (but not down the slip the lifeboat uses). It was great to see the boots and helmets all lined up and ready to use in case of emergency.

	While Jonathon played with his new tripod and gimbal head (whatever one of those is!) I went off to look for flowers to photograph. Back to top
One day we went over to Ramsey Island - a beautiful sunny day and a really beautiful island to explore. Lyndon kept us entertained naming the birds for us and telling us stories!
		I've put the views, sundry photos and 4 legged mammals in this Ramsey section but I've included the birds and plants etc in the relevant sections on the nature page.
It was interesting sitting on Ramsey Island watching this boat navigate round all the tricky currents and undertows in Ramsey Sound.
		This dog was with one of the farmers - looking very relaxed in its plastic crate!
Whereas this one was far more interested in playing in the mud around this pool!
		This rock reminded me of a dog - now named Dog Rock (by Jonathon!)
It was really peaceful on Ramsey - we hardly saw anybody else all day until we got back to base.

These red deer live on the island. In former times, they were farmed but most were rounded up when it wasn't profitable (earlier owners). These apparently escaped the rounding up!

	This is Lyndon with Jonathon and me. Unfortunately he'd forgotten his camera when we went to Ramsey but was really good at using his binoculars and spotting things for us to try and photograph!
	It is a working farm, owned by the RSPB, so there are sheep and cattle around

		Another day we ventured off to Skomer Island to see the Puffins (and anything else that was around). Again, I've put a few views etc here but the birds, animals are on the nature page. One of us had to get up very early to be collected by Lyndon at 6 a.m. (as Jonathon had to bring the others later, guess who got up!). The early start was worth it (we had to get in the queue to get tickets to get there!) The puffins were lovely as was the island.
	It wasn't a long ride - queueing for the tickets took much longer - but it was a very busy boat when we went over. This is what it looked like as it pulled into the harbour to pick us up.	There were quite a few rabbits on the island - this photo is specially for Helen C as I know how much she loves them!!!!
		There seemed to be a lot more flowers on Skomer than Ramsey - perhaps due to no sheep being here? Whatever the reason they made for a very pretty island.
Yes, I know this is a bird photo. The Puffins were one of the main reasons for the holiday so they are on all the pages, including a special one, just for them!





	We went to Grassholme Island on the Monday and Thursday (not to land, just to look). It's one of the largest gannet colonies in Britain - we were surrounded by them!

		You can see how different the weather was on the two days we visited!
The white tops of the island are nesting birds!



All too soon it was time to say goodbye to this part of Wales and move on to Cardiff (separate page). A final view from our room window and back to city life.

These two sunsets were from our room window whereas the one on the right was at Strumble Head where we went to look for Manx Sheerwaters (and found them but not in the droves that we'd hoped for).
Would we go back - yes! It's another one to add to the list and it's so much easier putting everything in the car boot rather than packing for a flight. We were really lucky with the weather which undoubtedly helped the holiday but the bird life, marine life etc was great so definitely worth another look sometime.
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