Wandering Oxwich Burrows, Gower Peninsula

I always find August and September a bit of a “nothing” month for photography i.e. there is nothing really worth making an image of quite yet. The vibrant greens of spring have faded and the autumn colours are yet to appear, it all feels a bit in between something.

Without any aim in mind it was good to wander Oxwich Burrows to see what was out there. In the more open areas of grass, the blackberry bushes were confined to being a few centimetres tall and one stem, but all had some fruit developing, which was quite surprising considering their tiny form.

6 spot Burnet?moths were all over the ragwort plants all over the burrows. They were jostling for space with the Small Brown Butterflies and a few flies. Being quite preoccupied with feeding, they allowed a close approach and gave me the opportunity to try various framing options.

From the Burrows, I nipped over to the bird hide and tried to stay out of the way of the feeding Swallow pair, who still had chicks of the last brood to raise. A lot of the vegetation around the hide has been cut back giving a better view of the pond, but what was left was being back lit in the bright light. This really brought out the green leaves and made them look less jaded than they actually were.

The young swallows were a bit hot and kept their mouths open to cool down. There were not far of fledging, with one venturing out onto the rim of the nest and trying a few wing flaps. Mum & Dad were flying in through the hide windows regularly keeping the supply of food up.