Month: July 2024

Is that really a thing? (…..or a stunning sunset over Cardigan Bay…..)

Panoramic image (two frames combined) taken eight minutes after the top one. (click to enlarge)

Last Monday I had to visit my postcard printers in Porthmadog, north Wales, and decided to make it an overnight trip. Leaving home on Sunday afternoon my journey felt rather aimless. The weather had been cloudy and drab for an extended period and there was no guarantee that it would be any better while I was away. I eventually ended up at Fairbourne , right at the mouth of the Mawddach estuary on the southern side – somewhere I very rarely visit. But as the evening slowly drew on I noticed a thinning of the cloud blanket in the west. I decided to go for a walk on the beach.

The sky was beginning to look positively very interesting with broken cloud of various types at different levels. The tide was low and a network of pleasingly shaped pools had formed in the hard sand of the beach. I actually ran back to the van to get my camera bag! Unheard of! I rarely take photos at sunset because the results can be rather predictable, but this, I felt, was an exceptional opportunity.

A few months ago I had bought a very specialised filter specifically for use at times like this. Looking towards the setting sun the light is brightest just above the horizon and gradually fades away towards darkness overhead. The reverse neutral density graduated filter is designed to counter the complex exposure changes that occur in such a situation. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever use it but there it was just sitting in my bag!

Over a period of about twenty minutes I took a series of images of one of the best sunsets I can remember ever seeing ; a complex cloudscape lit up in shades of yellow, orange and finally crimson – all reflected in the sweeping shapes of the pools on the strand. The hilltops and summits of the Pen Llyn extended across the horizon from left to right. Fairbourne itself is not a place of great beauty (or any beauty come to that) but in the right conditions the coastline there can be magical.

To be honest these were not difficult photographs to take. It was more or less a case of “1/125th of a second at f8 and be there”. I posted a couple of the results on an online photo forum and mentioned the use of the filter. One guy replied with the comment “Is that really a thing?” Well, yes, it definitely is a thing, and it works!

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Mr. Angry of mid-Wales..

It happens in the run-up to every election. I listen (and watch) in vain for anything relating to the environment in the BBC current affairs output (see here and here). Nowhere (with the exception of Channel 4) this year have I seen or heard any political party being tackled on their policies on climate change or nature/wildlife. It is as if there is a conspiracy of silence between the politicians and the journalists. Neither party is interested in discussing these things. Actually – I tell a lie: a couple of weeks ago I heard a trailer for exactly what I was hoping for – on the farming programme on Radio Four at 5.45 in the morning. Whoever listens to the radio at that time of day!

Last Thursday I happened to be listening to “Feedback” on Radio 4 which – in case you’re not aware – is nominally independent of the BBC. It features complaints and comments on the organisation’s output and often tackles senior BBC figures on important issues. The presenter read out two complaints from listeners about the complete lack of coverage of the large (very large apparently) ‘Restore Nature Now’ demonstration which took place in London towards the end of June. He/she reported that the BBC had been approached to answer these questions on air but had refused to do so. They just sent a short statement justifying their position.

I was furious! I immediately emailed Feedback with my own complaint about the BBC’s poor or non-existent coverage of environmental issues in its election broadcasting. I included the following points –

  1. How are voters concerned about the environment above all else (like me) supposed to know which way to vote? It is a complete dereliction of duty on behalf of the BBC, despite their ability to produce stunning wildlife documentaries containing powerful environmental messages.
  2. Millions of people in the UK are members of charities and pressure groups supporting wildlife conservation and renewal. All of us would dearly love to know what the political parties intend to do about these things but thanks to the BBC we are no wiser. It is disgraceful.

Well, fortunately, with a big thumbs up to Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace , we are now able to make a decision on which party to support. Between them they have examined the manifestos of the three main parties plus the Greens. It is the latter who top the ratings with an almost perfect score of 39 points out of 40. But you would never know it from their election publicity or their statements in the media. Why this fear of publicly putting the environment at the heart of every policy? The Lib Dems do pretty well too. Needless to say the Tories are by far the worst in every respect, although personally I believe their record over the past few years (especially under Boris Johnson) is not as bad as is made out.

Here in Ceredigion we have a Plaid Cymru MP, Ben Lake, who by all accounts is an excellent constituency MP. He was one of the very first to officially support Caroline Lucas’s Bill (now known as the Climate and Nature Bill) to put the environment first, which has not (yet) made it onto the statute book. But he has not responded to any of my recent correspondence on environment matters. Personally I have never trusted Plaid Cymru, as they tend to rely on the farmers’ vote in rural Wales. It was noticeable how Ben Lake made himself very visible at some of the farmers protests back in the winter.

So there you have it! If you have not yet decided how to vote in order to put the environment first, I do recommend looking at the FoE/Greenpeace document. There is a link to it below.

https://friendsoftheearth.uk/system-change/general-election-2024-manifestos-final-scores

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