Photo of the Month

February 2024: Anatori Rivermouth NZ. A long way down a lonely road

January 2024: The fur seal who landed on the beach in front of me. Te Oka Bay, Banks Peninsula, South Island New Zealand


December 2023: Overnight camp beside Lake Pukeki with Mount Cook, NZ’s highest mountain in the far distance

November 2023: The deep sea trawler Impulse II at Jacksons Bay on the West Coast of South Island New Zealand. At anchor at a tiny harbour in the corner of a wild stretch of coast.October 2023: Patterns in the mud of the Severn Estuary near Cardiff. Perfect for Watermarks!! Taken in colour on a grey day.

 


September 2023: A gathering of gaffers heading towards the Rumney Rivermouth in the Bristol Channel

August 2023: My lovely little yawl Fleur at Neyland Yacht Haven.  I have owned her for over 20 years, although she is feeling a bit poorly at the moment

July 2023: Towers, lines and flags- Rotterdam waterfront

June 2023: At the going down of the sun in the mountains of Snowdonia

May 2023: Mary, fearless single-handed skipper returning to her gaff-rigged-yacht Molly Cobbler, in Neyland Yacht Haven

April 2023: Ocean Pavement, Manly, New South Wales

MARCH 2023: Feeding the fish on the reef at Cabbage Tree Bay, Manly, NSW

February 2023: A leading light in an isolated bay

January 2023: The Totaranui lagoon at low tide (New Zealand)

December 2022: Young sea lion, on the beach at Kaka Point NZ

November 2022: Underwater turbulence at Fox Peak New Zealand

October 2022: Isle of Wight car ferry in the Solent

September 2022: An image of Roath Park Lake- on my doorstep

August 2022: Texel Island, Netherlands

July 2022: An ancient packhorse bridge over the stream outlet from Lake Ogwen in North Wales and beneath the busy A40 main road bridge above.

June 2022: A self portrait: Reflected in the River Dart

May 2022: The coast of Australia’s Northern Territories from 35,000 feet

April 2022: Tasman Lake and Tasman Glacier below Mount Cook, on the right, Southern Alps, NZ (Late Autumn afternoon)

March 2022: Fisher-folk on a sandbank off Sully Island. Monkstone lighthouse beyond and Clevedon on the distant shore

February 2022: Causeway to SullIy Island at Low Water

January 2022: Hard case backdrop; bright feathery vegetation, recommended reflections at the edge of Cardiff Bay

December 2021: Mysterious walk through cave at Three Cliffs Bay, Gower

November 2021: The Wreck of the Trolley. Winner of the Old Gaffers Association, Bristol Channel Area Photographic Competition

October 2021: My kayak at Loch Harras at Ness of Brodgar in OrkneySeptember 2021: The Grain Tower on the Isle of Grain in Kent. Built in the 1860s to deter the French it was modified to become an anti-aircraft post in WW2.

August 2021: Kayaking amongst the rocks & caves off Combe MartinJuly 2021: The church by the sea- St Justs in Roseland near St Mawes in Cornwall. Is there ever a more serene and tranquil place? June 2021: A old tin building on a rocky outcrop at Rossilli head. Known variously as a tannery, the stone works or, more probably, the boat house. The causeway to Worm’s Head is top right of picture.May 2021: Like it says- Watercolours. A dozen different colours of the water. At the Claerwen Reservoir dam in the Elan Valley, mid Wales.

April 2021: Kayaker challenging the weir on the River Taff, Cardiff- no hope. Continuing the theme of local photos. Maybe Covid restrictions will allow one from further afield next month.  March 2021: Two 4 metre wide Archimedes screws doing their stuff at the Radyr Hydro-Electric scheme on the River Taff

February 2021: Exercising from home- along the short remaining stretch of the Old Glamorganshire Canal

January 2021: Moorhen debating whether to take the plunge! Forest Farm Reserve Cardiff

December 2020: First mate on the dog watch, Jackson’s Bay, Barry

November 2020: The Ely River reaching Cardiff Bay. Cat’s paws? More like Tiger’s claws

OCTOBER 2020: Atlantic female grey seal at Porthgain, North Pembrokeshire, Wales

SEPTEMBER 2020: Abandoned WW2 hero lightship Juno (LV72) on a mud berth on the Neath River near Swansea

AUGUST 2020: A Norwegian Church Cornish Crabber Sandwhich

July 2020: Crested grebe mother and chick, Cardiff Bay Yacht Club

June 2020: Not quite social distancing

May 2020: A touch of peace and serenity in a fragile world

APRIL 2020: A tear for all those around the world affected by the Coronavirus Covid 19

March 2020: I took this photo at Roskilde, Denmark a few months ago. So, a little late, but it is such a lovely photo I couldnt resist it. The dog and his master were having a swim in the harbour. Realising his master had just turned around, the dog did the same…

February 2020: Along the Wairau River on the Rainbow Road, sixty miles of rough road through some stunning territory. Hard on the road, easy on the eye.

January 2020: Stranded behind a major wash-out when the Potts River flooded before it joined the already flooded Rangitata River in the Canterbury High Country. It took the road re-builders a week to get it passable by crossing a ford in a reasonably big dip.For a while it really was the road to Nowhere. (Look up Erewhon Station & Samuel Butler)

December 2019: A beach along the extraordinary boardwalk on the Bellinger and Kalang Rivers estuary at Urunga New South Wales. The black tide line is ash from more than 50 bush fires raging inland. Six people have died and almost 700 homes have been consumed by the flames so far. Tragic.

November 2019: Where the river meets the sea and the sun

October 2019: Folds of rock, Ceibwr Bay, Ceredigion, West Wales

September 2019: Is this the lonliest lighthouse in the world? Cap Rudmoseepynton, Billefjorden, West coast of Svalbard

August 2019:Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen: where the road out of town ends, about a mile after it starts.

July 2019: In pack ice, on board the Ocean Nova at 80 degrees North off the north west coast of Spitsbergen

June 2019:Paragliding at Hvide Sande on the west coast of Denmark

May 2019: The Bay Raider Nona Me under jib and mizzen in Chichester Harbour. Note two mysterious and spooky figures astern. (NO Photoshop at work!)

APRIL 2019: The wharf at French Pass, Golden Bay, South Island, New Zealand


March 2019: A kayak on Lake Benmore at the beginning of an overnight solo camping trip.

February 2019: Unconcerned fishermen on Lake Wakatipu, South Island, New Zealand

January 2019: A hike in the hills. The Tasman morraine (glacier covered in a layer of rock and debris) draining into Lake Tasman high in the Southern Alps, New Zealand

December 2018: Nutmeg gets her bottom washed

11 November 2018: As the centenary of the end of the Great War draws near, we remember those who fell in the cause of Freedom. The photo here is of the imposing Welsh Memorial at Pilkem Ridge in Belgium, but it serves to represent the men and women of all the nations of Britain and the Empire who fought and died on foreign soil, as well as those of their families left to suffer without them. Bless them all.

November 2018: Final resting place of a Spanish trader (Laredo, Northern Spain)

October 2018: The Sarweather Lightship, once of Swansea Bay, now moored in the river at Douardenez in Brittany

September 2018: Reflections of a 2cm deep lake in Bordeaux

AUG 2018: Another Cardiff Bay Boat. Not quite a Volvo round the world racer but my competitive entry in the Cardiff Traditional Sail log boat race last month

July 2018: Start of the Volvo Ocean Race penultimate leg from Cardiff – Gothenberg

June 2018: Looking down from near the summit of Snowdon:

May 2018: A heron on watch at Cardiff Bay Yacht Club


 

April 2018: Fisherman’s Wharf south of Oamaru, South Island, New Zealand

March 2018: Outside the Coach & Horses Inn at Lawrence, Central Otago

February 2018: View from the Hill high above the vineyards of the Awatere Valley, Marlborough. Good Savignon Blanc country

January 2018: Looking down on Lake Dunston from Duffers Saddle at 4,000 feet. Otago, South Island, New Zealand

December 2017: Black figures on a green river bed. South Mavola Lake New Zealand

November 2017: The last fisherman, Lake Garda, Italy

October 2017: The Steamer Jetty Lake Lucerne, Switzerland

 

September 2017: Hungarian Parliament, on the banks of the Danube in Budapest


August 2017: Bright sail on the Bay

 

July2017: Marco Polo leaving Cardiff for warmer climes 

June 2017: Spotted amongst the boat moorings on the Ely River in Cardiff, a crested grebe with two chicks on her back. 

May 2017: Gumnut’s happy crew, Cardiff Bay. (Gumnut aka Nutmeg)

April 2017: Evening sunlight- silent waters

March 2017: The Wanaka Tree, world famous in Wanaka & beyond the horizon. It began life as one of a line of wooden fence posts in the 1930s and grew into a beautiful willow

February 2017: The wreck of the tea clipper Darra, Quail Island, Lyttelton Harbour NZ

January 2017: Surfie boy getting his kicks! Christchurch New Zealand

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December 2016: Amazing art by one man and a rake on the beach at New Brighton, Christchurch, New Zealand

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November 2016: The Last Patrol: The aircraft carrier Ark Royal 19 Oct 2010. Part of an exhibition of Watermarks Photos currently on display at World of Boats, Cardiff Bayp1010495ev

October 2016: The apple market on the canal at Copenhagen

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September 2016: Sundown on a ship, Cumbria

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August 2016: Puffin with a beak full sand eels, the Farne Islands, Northumberland

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July 2016: Racing in light winds; Cardiff Bay

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June 2016: The Bristol Channel pilot cutter Mascotte with Steep Holm and a heap of clouds behind

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May 2016: Sailing on Working Yacht 1 during the 2016 Cock o’ the Bristol Channel race for pilot cutters

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April 2016: What to you think chaps, will she float? The Morecombe Bay Prawner Charlotte under restoration at World of Boats, Cardiff Bay, aided and abetted by Old Gaffers of the Bristol Channel

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March 2016 Rocks and the Sea Esperance, Western Australia

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February 2016: Storm Water Drain (Broken) North Brighton beach, South Island NZ

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January 2016: Tugs, mountains and sky at Eden, New South Wales

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December 2015: Three birds in a boat- pelican, cormorants and seagulls

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November 2015 Black Dragon crossing the Murray River, South Australia

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October 2015: The coastline and dry salt flats of Lake Eyre in Central Australia. It is 3,668 square miles in size and last flooded in the big wet of 2011.

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September 2015: Thrombolites, the oldest living organism in the world, three billion years in the making. Lake Clifton, Western Australia

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 August 2015: The fishing trawler Returner, heading back to Point Samson, Western Australia, on the 2nd July 2015 loaded almost to the gunnels with her catch. Tragically, she was lost at sea in rough weather nine days later, along with her crew of three. The unforgiving sea….

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July 2015: Gunlom Pool, Kakadu National Park

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June 2015: Big male crocodile at Yellow Waters, Kakadu Nat Park, Northern Territories

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May 2015: Kangeroos on the beach at dawn at Cape Hillsborough, Queensland

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April 2015: Sunset over the Town of 1770, Queensland

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March 2015: Lake Pukaki looking towards Mount Cook, Southern Alps

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February 2015: Surf boat at North Beach, New Brighton, New Zealand

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January 2015: Framing in thirds- the mountainous sky, Dr Who? and shimmering water

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December 2014: A straggle of shells at Shingle Street

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November 2014: Shortest on the left, tallest on the right. On the summit of The Garth

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October 2014: Ghosting home to her mooring, Fleur drifts up river as the evening light begins to dim001 SP Collage part 9ev

September 2014: In an unthinking moment in August 2013 I took a self portrait. Another one the following week started a trend. Fifty-two weeks later, this is the result.

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August 2014 Beautiful gaff cutter seen at the entrance to Milford Haven in late July

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July 2014 Calmly down channel- in amongst the islands

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June 1914: Dinghies on the beach at Suffolk

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May 2014: Hugh Harrison’s Evenstar gracing Cardiff Bay

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April 2014: A massive iceberg off the coast of South Georgia

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March 2014: King Penguins at South Georgia on passage to the Antarctic

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February 2014: The 1912 steamer TSS Earnslaw on Lake Wakatipu with the Remarkables mountain range as a backdrop, South Island New Zealand

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January 1914: Beach children, New Brighton, Christchurch NZ

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December 2013: Betty kayaking on Lake Ianthe, South Island New Zealand

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November 2013: Paddles up (OK, there’s always one…) at the white water rafting and kayak centre in Cardiff

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October 2013: One man and his dog, negotiating the last lock on the upper reaches of the River Thames at Lechlade (Gloucestershire) paddling an inflatable canoe

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September 2013: The waterfront at Cardiff Harbour on a balmy August night taken from the terrace of St David’s Hotel that was littered with our empty coffee cups.

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August 2013 Tessellated pavement at Nash Point beach, Vale of Glamorgan

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July 2013 Pink Buoys on a blue sea- Cardiff Bay

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June 2013: All that’s left of the Glamorgan Canal, seen at its best in the spring. It is the last remaining section of water, perhaps two-thirds of a mile long, of the once famous canal that brought coal and iron from the Welsh Valleys to the sea. Coal that fired the steam ships all around the globe and railway lines that carried trains in countries as far apart as America, Australia and Russia.

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May 2013: On Good Friday 2013 the 36ft wooden yacht Kahu Kura broke its moorings in the Avon and Heathcote Estuary and was washed out to sea to fetch up on the beach at nearby Sumner. Attempts to re-float it proved futile and within three days she had attracted the attention of vandals, been battered by the tide and had sunk into the sand. Uninsured, she was boken up and taken away, although her keel remains buried still.

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April 2013: Oystercatchers at dusk. Last photos of this amazing estuary we have left behind. OK so we are just across the road from the beach, but it still won’t be the same.

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March 2013: Sea Lion taking a shower, Cape Palliser, North Island, NZ

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February 2013: Bird nest

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January 2013: Santa arrives in his Tiger Moth

 

December 2012: Where sinks the southern moon

November 2012: The Memory 19 gaffer Arwen sailing in the Bristol Channel 

October 2012: A visitor at the hotel window in Padstow

September 2012: Showing off at the Royal Welsh

August 2012: Resting boats and floating islands in the Bristol Channel

July 2012: Yacht at rest- Lochranza, Isle of Arran, Scotland

June 2012: Approach of the Deben Ferry

 

 

May 2012: A pair of immature mute swans on the Marshfield reans, east of Cardiff

April 2012:  Ice along the cirque edge- Fox Glacier, West Coast, South Island, New Zealand taken from a helicopter overlooking my toes!

March 2012:  Materua, a Cook Islander, paddling the Christchurch Estuary

 

February 2012   Circles in the sand- the remains of liquefaction eruptions on the Christchurch estuary on an ebbing tide in the calm of the evening

January 2012- Lighthouse at Kaipapa Point, on the Catlin coast, South Island, New Zealand, in monochrome