Posts in Category: voyage voyage
great crested grebe
The second time this year that we attended a Landal Park in the Netherlands. This time it is Esonstad, which is right beside the national park Lauwersmeer – a huge inland lake that once was derived from the north sea. We had been here before, almost ten years ago, in winter and I could only imagine what its fauna and flora will look in early summer. The resort is not only a place for families with kids – it is also a habitat for a big range of birds living in all the “Krachten” (water channels that run through the park and between the houses).
Here we got a creseted grebe. When the kids finally had gone to bed it was the ususal 10 minutes too late and the sun had already sunk behind the dike, so high ISO and a coupld of shots it was to get this picture. I had to go knee deep into the sea to get close enouth to it. Like the outcome as the water is almost white and nicely washes off after the subject.
god speaking
On our way back from a daytrip to the next Island, Schiermonnikoog, which has one of the biggest sandy beaches of whole Europe, the weather changed. The wind picked up and some dark, heavy rainclouds appeared. A few minutes later the sun ripped thorugh that big rainbringers and sent down some heavenly light that left us in awe.
gold pheasant
Right at our arival at Landalpark Port Greve, I could hear the scream of a gold pheasant. One of those really colourful birds used to live at my workplace and after I started to fead him, he came back day after day for a couple of month – so I could tell it was one of those. What I didn’t know is that around the park seemed to live more than one couple. We spotted them everyday and could hear them from far away. The one on the picture used to live around our house and in its garden and was not so shy as the others. Thanks for posing Mr. P.
Phillack morning
Well, what can you say, when you wake up and this is the view from your chalet’s balcony. Not much more that you would need, right. Right!
Chapel of St. Nicholas
At the formost outer spot of St. Ives lies the Chapel of St. Nicholas. It was restored a couple of times and houses a littel museum.
Gull
St.Ives is very touristic and around the harbour you find a lot of food shops, cafes and bars, where you can sit and eat or take away your favs. Also you will find many seagulls that team up in gangs. One or two start pulling the attention towards them and a third fleis by and steals your meal. We withnessed it a couple of times, while sitting in a restaurant…. under the sunroof, off course.
Porthkidney Beach
Today our second week of our Cronwall trip started. We had to move from Newquy to Phillack, where we rented a littel chalet in a park. There are no busses that go up here and so we had to walk the 1.4 miles from Hayle to here. Once again a rough ride along sections of the south-west coast path with all our luggage, push chair and backpacks. The first casualty was my new Dakine rollcase, that got shredded on the rough underground… big torture for Marie. More than three hours on the bus and then in the push chair, all the way up here. Now that we are here, in absolutely the beatifulst chalet in the whole park, we can enjoy our view through the big windows straigt over to Porthkidney Beach and the peninsula of St. Ives in the back. Wind is very hefty and so the clouds are in constant movement and the sight changes from second to dsecond casting one perfect picture after anohter. Love it!
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Bedruthan Steps #2
I was really happy that the weather was not so good. What would that picture look like with no clouds in the sky? Not like much… 😉
Bedruthan Steps
We finally reached the steps. This time we took the bus and the weather was still not good, but who needs sunshine, when you can stroll around a landsacpe like this. I exspected some dinosaurs to show up any minute.
starling posing
There are so many different bird species but when it comes to food, you can devide them up into two categories. The ones that vanish as soon as you appear and those that approach you when you have something to eat. Starlings belong to the latter kind.
River Gannel
On the other side – southward – is the river Gannel. At low tide there is not much water left, and everybody and his dog shows up for a walk in this great landscape. We were fascinated and came back more times.
Have you ever seen the rain
We went for a walk… for a long walk actually. Our goal was to hike from Newquay to the Bedruthan Steps. According to some obscure webiste it should have been about only 5.5 miles. First mistake was the tiny difference between miles and kilometers, and the second that we did not looked for another website. Half way towards Mawgan Porth the rain came after us, and got us. Bakholiday was the third mistake, as the busses home won’t go on that day, but that’s another story.
Headland Hotel
First day in the new world… or better the old world. This is Headland Hotel, which opened around 1900 and as we found out later, seemed not have changed that much during all those years. Impressive building at and impressive spot. The brits know how to do it….
kite fight
Our last stop of our trip was in Goa. Right the first day, when we arrived and stepped out of the airport I noticed flock of huge birds in the sky and they where everywhere else to be found as well but in Goa I finally had the time to sneak by and take some shots; not without fretting about leaving my big lens in Germany. Anyway here you can see two young black kites practicing some dogfight maneuvers.
Hoopoe
Our second day in Hampi we descided to shift back one gear and have a relaxing day by strolling around, visiting the places we missed the day before and stay longe in one spot. First animal of the day that we noticed was this hoopoe, passing us by couple of times at top of the virupaksha temple. Nice catch, isn’t it?
bangalore bear massacre
Not to give you a false impression of the trip: the cities are hard to stand and I coulnd’t bear any longer than a couple of hours, before I got fed up with all the noise and dirt. Looks like some bear in downtown of Bangalore didn’t make it on time and put an end to its existance.
New macaque
Here we got a tiny macaque, a new one, if you will, staring after his pears who where bussy breaking a jack fruit.
Toque macaque
The old world monkey, as it is calssified. Our first day in Kandy we went to the botanical garden and althoug quite impressive it was the monkeys that cought my eye. After one of the elders tried to ripp of our bananas from Nadines bag, we choose to follow them to their spot. After a couple of minutes they almost ingnored us and we could observe them quite well. This one reminds me somehow of Bob Marley…
Indian Woodpecker
You could find woodpeckers all over the world. There are about 200 known species and non the less, I was surprised to find it in the Indian jungle. The best part about it is that indian birds are not shy at all. So I could get quite close and som decent shots. Not that it uses its tail as tripod… a camera and we would probably be really good friends.
Smaragdspint
…or green p, as they are called by the natives. It is not very shy, rather curious and so you find it flying around you almost everywhere. Mostly they tend to seat on a low tree or cable and catching insects out of the air. Green-Bee-eater, so hi sofficial name in the rest of the world.
delawella beach
Listed as one of the ten moste beautifull beaches of the world and we found it… by accident. One of the most relaxing stays of the whole trip an one of the finest places.
Kingfisher
Despite beeing a very tasty beer of India (and an Airlines as well) they are to be found everywhere. Very, very shy, I had to improve my sneak up techniques. In the end I found this guy who was not so shy at all.
mudskippers
Half fish, half reptile they are somhow arkward creatures. They can breath through their skin as well ais their mouth, depending if they are in the water or on land. This cutaneous air breathing functions much like a skubadivers system. However their gills have to stay wet and so you mostly find them on the rocks along the shore. Flexing their body they can jump uo to 60cm in one leap. Be sure to stay calm and do not move when you want to observe them – their eyes are really good.
old varanus
On our second day in Hikkaduwa/ Sri Lanka, Santa took us to a nearby lagoon and the first animal we met, was this old, big varanus, about 2m long and really looking hazardous. They are known to be very clever and can count up to number six, which is quite big thing for animals from the times of dinosaurs. Now I am frightened.
halo
Really… time is a missing factor these days and photography has taken a beackseat, or at least the post has to wait. This one is from last years visit to La Palma. On top the Roque de los Muchachos we had plain sun, slight clouds and than this halo appeared. Now I know when people talk about having visions… this occurrence is by no means only visible on the picture. You can witness it right at spot. Amen!
the raven
Our last day on the Island and together with Luca we headed for a small round on the Cumbre Viecha. It turned out that we took the wrong turn and were on the long way down, to the camping site at the bottom of the Caldera. As soon as we noticed we just went all the way back and at the parking site a friend was waiting for us or better for our Maria cookies.
just the two
Last year I thought I was lucky when I shot a dragonfly in midair, but it turned out that Karins pool is THE spot to witness more happenings in the lifeof dragonflies. There were constant fights about the territory – two male insects doing unbelievable maneuvers over the pool. Here you can see a couple on the way to the oviposition. I got more shots that are a tuck sharper, but I like the female insect touch the watersurface. And, did I mention that I have to get a macro lens? This was shot with my 500mm…..
frogger
I don’t know if i mix up somthing here, but see the crane I can imagine that those two little frogs, around the next corner, would make a good meal for him… or was it only the stork that’s after those little critters?
crane
There many inhabitants in the Caldera de Taburiente. We were lucky too meet quite a few. I tried to take pictures of cranes around my hometown but they are very shy and just looking toward their direction often is enought to make them leave, so the only ones I got where those two from the Zoo in Frankfurt, that tend to show up when it is feeding time for the sea lions. Here we go… all natural, an all wild crane from the Caldera. EDIT: I am still learning and so errors are for sure to be made… this seems to be heron, not a crane.
branco de colores
Hiking the Caldera de Taburiente is one of the greatest things one can do on La Palma. Half way back to our starting point, we found the “Cascadas de colores”, colorful waterfall with its yellow water that trails through the whole baranco.
volcano land
At times you will find some hot spots on the south side of La Palma. St. Antonio and Teneguia are the last volcanoes. The letter erupted in the 1970s and shaped the southern shoreline, adding new land and buried old parts.
crabs
They are everywhere along the rocky shores of La Plama. Shy and fast are two of their characteristics that make them somehow hard to photograph. Gotcha!
heure bleu
Every evening we were swept away by unbelievable sundowns. The blue hour was the time when La Palma showed its magic.
thr33
It is kind of funny: You can try to hide and not move in order to get close to animals and you get very far. The next time you are loud, noisy don’t care about any means of camouflage and you get even closer. I was about to shoot some pictures of a falcon on a nearby tree when a flock of goats passed. The falcon hadn’t noticed me, but those three saw me instantly. When I turned around and shot this picture the falcon went off. I didn’t mind. I had some decent picture of it already.
falcon
No, not the millenium falcon, but a real one. La Palma is the island of falcons. Around barancos around our house we hat quite a few of them, but it was this one that kept me going. Every evening it sat down on a nearby pine. I had a hard time getting close to it and even this time, it saw me first, staring right into the cameras eye. A nice shot anyway.
caught in the act
I am no big fan of dead center compositions but with this shot I had to break my rules. This little fellow was buzzing around the pool and kept constantly chasing off other dragonflies off its territory. It came back day after day and so I just hat to wait for it to appear. Shooting it with a 300mm lens was another stroy. Nailed it!
lizzards everywhere
Whenever you set foot in Karins garden you can hear rustling from different places. Its those little lizzards running away from you. This one was living on our terrace and on second day he lost his shyness and almost fell asleep during the shooting.
gloom
We hit the mark with our choice to go rent the Casa Bueanavista apartment. Las Tricias/La Palma is by far the best place to stay. This is the sundown captured right from our terrace. Every evening when the sun was about to vanish, the mighty clouds dropped down the hills and came in very low, rendering jawdropping views like this. Enjoy!
lynch
Up on the Roque de los Muchachos we passed several telescopes, sometimes hidden in the clouds. Take a close look on the horizon and you will probably see one.
iris path
A full rainbow is not often to be seen – on La Palma they seem to be quite common place. It was second day and our second trip our second rainbow and if you take a close look, you can see even another rainbow shimmering above the first. Two seemed to be the number for this holiday…
burn
I know, I know, it looks like one of those cheesy posters, but hey… those posters are airbrushed and this is for real! Low clouds as typical for the Las Tricias evenings
minnenhallen
Just a spectacular night view of the WW I+II memorial.
From Wikipedia: “Minnehallen or The hall of remembrance was commissioned by the Norwegian parliament after World War I to commemorate the fallen Norwegian sailors of the war. It was unveiled by king Haakon VII and was later converted to the national monument commemorating fallen sailors of both World War I and World War II.”
risor at night
I have not much to say about this one… it represents the quiet that this vast country has to offer. Nothing to hear at this time of the day (night) – only the nearby gulls didn’t stop to shrieking all night. Mating season… I guess.
cabins at night
Although, we were below the polar circle the big light never went out. This shot was taken at 10:45pm and the sky still looks like the sun just went down. I rather will not be there in winter, when it is only up for a few lousy hours.
boat on the river
At Mandal there were many of those nice looking wooden boats. They remind me of a James Bond movie, where James is on a simlar ship… still the movies
golden sea
That evening presented us a spectacular sundown, that we witnessed from our terrace; compensation for the rain on to top of Preikestolen. At this moment, the sun just came through that little hole in the clouds and hit that fairy. I was expecting it to be beamed away…. too much SciFi…
Sheeps everywhere
Along the road we had a little break at beautiful sea. Sheeps normaly don’t swim and this one didn’ t go any further into the water, but they can: sheep swimming
no man's land
On the fairy over Bjørnafjorden you pass this little no man’s land. Great weather, wind and sun… pure pleassure.