Tag Strangford lough

Wagtail’s and sepia tones

George McNeill 8 Comments

With the sun shining and a light breeze I shouldered the camera bag, grabbed a tripod. Car locked and my first chat was with a man and his dog. Some local information is always welcome. I sit here listening to the wind and heavy rain beat it’s tune on the window. I took the following photos last weekend, what a difference this weekend.

First up are a few photograph’s of the Pied wagtail, these were taken while out for a walk along the coast.

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I always hope to get some shots of seals that bask along the shore, but so far no luck. With the tide in I knew they would be out from shore. This one was around 100 metres from shore.

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I got a few head shots but loved the light catching his whisker’s in this one. We have two  type of seal’s around our coast. The grey seal and the common seal with this being the Common seal.

My last one is off the small lighthouses that mark the entrance to Strangford lough on the east coast of Northern Ireland. I gave it an old time look when editing it in Silver Efex Pro. Let me know what you think.

 

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Thank you for visiting.

Take care,

George.

 

From snow to coast.

George McNeill 6 Comments

This time last week I was digging the snow from the drive, taking photo’s in the snow. A week later and bar the mountains the snow is gone, well for now. Here in Ireland the weather can change in an hour. With a cool breeze and sunshine that gave no heat I headed for the coast. With heavy rain showers and a bitter wind I sat with a coffee and watched the bird life feeding in the mud flats left has the tide receded. With the return of the no heat sunshine I grabbed the camera’s and went for a walk. Below are a few of my shots from the day.

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Relax now this is the only bird shot this week, a couple of Redshank’s feeding around the mud flats.

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Fishing boats and one of the markers at the mouth of Strangford Lough. In the back ground is the Isle of Man, Looking closer because of the use of a telephoto lens.

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Kilclief beach looking the Irish sea towards the Isle of Man on the horizon.

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Then I spotted this, photo below.

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Parked in the wrong spot…. the colour of the toy car caught my eye on the walk back.

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It was the sun hitting the seaweed and lichen on the rocks that drew me to this photo.

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My final one of the day.

Thank you for visiting my blog, feel free to comment. What you like ,dislike etc.

Enjoy your weekend.

George.

 

 

 

 

Ducks, Waders and Seagulls.

George McNeill 2 Comments

Map

Street view

The map link above should take you to the area where most of the photographs in this post were shot. I was using a Nikon D750 with a Sigma 150 – 600 zoom. Some post processing and chopping  before posting.

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First up we have a couple of Mallards ( Anas platyrhynchos ) enjoying the low winter sun.

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Teal (Anas crecca ) Male and female. Love the marking of the male Teal, from the striped head to colourful rear.

The next set of photos were shot about a mile along the coast.  This wader is common around the coast in Northern Ireland

Redshank ( Tringa totanus )

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Gull time.

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Bath time

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Herring Gull (Larus argentatus )  playing tug-o-war with the sea weed.

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Common Gull ( Larus canus )

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Taking a guess at this one, I think its a Herring Gull in flight.

 

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This smaller gull is a Black Headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus ) in it’s winter plumage.

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Again I think this is a Herring Gull delivering  it’s bodily waste on those below.

These next couple of photograph’s are off  our largest wader here in the Uk & Ireland.

Curlew ( Numenius arquata)

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That was my Saturday, photographing the birds along this stretch of coast. There are more to photograph has well as the seals but that’s another day.  Next time I’ll pack a flask of coffee and a warmer coat so I can walk more of the coastline.

Thank you for joining me.

George.

 

 

Seaside photo’s

George McNeill 9 Comments

A breezy and over cast day but a warm wind kept any chill at bay. This first photo is at the start of Strangford Lough at a place called Kilclief. I am here trying out new filters.

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The small light marker is one of two at the mouth of the lough. Played around with setting here to see what I could product. This shot was converted to B&W and processed with’s Silver Efex Pro.Then it was a few more miles around the coast to St. John’s lighthouse. Here the wind was full on has it came around the headland.

 

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Again a long exposure smoothed the water and clouds, again finished in Silver Efex Pro.

Then on the way home following the coast I spotted wind surfers out on the water, no filters on here. Using a 70 – 300mm lens on the Nikon D7200 I got this next shot hand held.

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Across the bay you can see part of the Mourne mountains with Newcastle town at the base. Sunlight was throwing shafts of light through the clouds onto the water just off shore and the wind surfers zipping across the water in the strong winds. There its time for me to leave the coast and head inland home.

Thank you for visiting.