Swanage Pirate Week

This weekend sees the first ever Swanage Pirate Weekend take over the town. Now our little bay is perfect for tall ships and the Shtandart looks superb against the back drop of cliffs or open sea.

Meet the Locals

At this time of year Swifts own the skies above our house in Swanage, screaming as they career between the trees and buildings and then soar high above. Suddenly though another, more familiar, screech could be heard: a noise that I have heard many times but not in the town, on the cliffs yes, but never above the house! Thinking about it, Peregrines breed not too far from here and can be seen from the cliffs both north and south of the town so it should not be surprising to see them.

One Swallow Does Not A Summer Make

There is a place, not too far from me, where I can sit and watch the Swallows for as long as I want and believe me, this can be a while. When the youngsters are free of the nest but still hanging on to their parent’s coat tails, there is so much to see and so much to photograph. This is yet another bird that I cannot get enough of.

Devil Screamers

If you live in Swanage you can't have missed the sight of a large group of Swifts screaming as they career through the sky high above the roof tops. I spent an hour or so trying to photograph them as them as they flew over our garden, sometimes so high they were barely specs, sometimes so close they looked like they would crash in to the houses.  The Swift is an incredible bird for many reasons: it is our fastest bird on level flight, it is one of our most ancient dating back at least 65 million years and they almost never land except on their nests. They are a bird well worth learning more about.