Sunday: Sunshine, sights, sounds and Sa Dingding

Dance workshops were entertaining to observe....just observe, mind you. The energy levels were flagging by now, after the late night and the chilly pre-dawn.
I particularly enjoyed the tounge-in-cheek Bollywood workshop!!

Later came Sa Dingding- described as a "Chinese Kate Bush" or an "Asian Bjork"(ie quirky and theatrical.....and from China)- who was a winner of Radio 3 World Music awards for the "Asia/Pacific" category: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/worldmusic/a4wm2008/2008_sa_ding_ding.shtml and her performance lived up expectation.

A Youtube video of one of her performances....

The children's area part of the festival Samba-ed its way around the main area later in the afternoon, adding an extra touch of the Carnivalesque!

and the flags fluttered merrily

Womad: Saturday 26th July.....Kenyan, Balkan, Cambodian....what a mix!!

I arrived back on site late morning, pitched my little tent and then made my way to the center of the site just in time to catch the African liveliness of Kenge Kenge Orutu Systems (from Kenya) performing on the BBC stage....a slightly more restricted platform than they had had when I saw (and much enjoyed) them yesterday. But they were still lots of fun to listen to and watch, complete with some enthusiastic dancing!!

And this song tribute for their Luo relative Barak Obama....

....after a pint of Somerset Cider, and a Greek style lunch, I endulged in a little shopping before returning to the BBC stage for a musical taste of the Balkans ("Paprika Balkanicus" to be precise!!) Womad had a flypast from the Red Arrows during this part of the day!!! (YouTube link here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uH0G0R5Xtas )
I looked the band up on YouTube and found this....

and this...

Later in the day, temperatures rising in the glare of wonderful sunshine, came "Denge Fever", a group from California with aims to revive Cambodian rock music traditions after its suppression by the Khmer Rouge.....interesting. (I loved the beard too!!) The Children of the Khmer joined the performance for a time adding to the Cambodian aspect with some traditional folk dance arrangements and ever graceful hand gestures...

One more visit to the BBC stage today, and an attempt to see Punk veteran "Jah Wobble" with a "Chinese Dub" performance with elements of traditional Chinese music and Western modern rock styles. I tried to penetrate the depths of the crowd to get a clear view, but managed barely a squint through the trees....

So sadly I missed seeing some apparently rather spectacular mask changing dances...

Friday 25th July. Womad 2008: Tibetan Monks...Cuban Rumba...

I have wanted to go to a WOMAD festival for some time: discovering that it had moved from Reading to Charlton Park in Wiltshire made it a MUST to visit this year.....and I am everso glad that I did!

Here's a summarizing clip that shows just why I loved it!

Of my Friday favourites:

The presentation by the monks of http://www.tashi-lhunpo.org.uk/Tashi Lhumpo monastary was mysterious in its chants, (here in a pre-performance sound check!)

fascinating in the symbolic actions and gestures they used
and colourfully spectacular in the folk dancing sequences such as this, for the (buddhist) new year's eve:

The Rumberos de Cuba were contrastingly unrestrained! Lots of fun!

Here they are on a YouTube clip (not mine!)

Holiday in Pembrokeshire: Boat trip out to Grassholm

My last island "target" in Pembrokeshire was rocky, relatively remote,
Grassholm- so named for the seasonal grassy pastureage it once offered
for sheep from the mainland. The soil long has since blown away, and now it is home to the British Isle's third largest gannet colony. The RSPB say "Grassholm is of both national and international importance. It is an outstanding seabird spectacle, unrivalled anywhere in Wales for this species." So, definately worth the effort to go out and see for myself!


This is Grassholm as seen from Skomer.

The top of the island is whitened with the mass of nesting gannets, and their guano!
The RSPB gives an estimate of 32,000 pairs of birds nesting here

Gannets were visible almost throughout the hour long boat journey, either singley out hunting for fish or seaweed to add to their nest,

Ramsey Island is on the horizon here...

(An arty enhanced version of a less dramatic original shot!)

or in greater masses as we neared the island.

The noise of the nesting birds added to the total experience. I was spared the odourous effects...as indeed are you!

So ended my holday in lovely Pembrokeshire!

Holiday in Pembrokeshire: floral fiesta

May is certainly a month not to miss in Pembrokeshire, with the coastal wildflowers at their most lovely and prolific. Here's a little gallery of some I encountered:

Holiday in Pembrokeshire: To Ramsey Island and beyond

Today I went to Ramsey Island, an RSPB reserve. It was bought (not that long ago)
through public donations with the aim of managing the island for choughs, approximately jackdaw sized crow family members with thin red beaks and red legs (a smart little bird!)

take a look at someone else's video of a chough here

They need grassland that is near the coast but very cropped very short, so that they can find their food items. This is why sheep are grazed here, and it was whilst awaiting a chough to photograph (I failed with this) that I snapped these relaxed looking lambs .... via my telescope!

Progressing on my way around the island, weighed down with an exess of baggage
and under a hot sun (there was NO SHADE!!!) I enjoyed views of sea birds on the cliffs, seals
in the water and wild flowers such as spring squill and blue bells around about me
....as well as scenic cliffs and rocky outcrops.From the top of the highest of the two island hills I had a grand view over the whole island, spotting the herd of red deer that also grace the island as they enjoyed a paddle in a distant (freshwater) pool. I also had a fine view across Ramsey Sound to the St. David's Pensinsula, with a further sweep around St. Bride's Bay towards the Marloes peninular and Skomer. Thus the following video, made at this point, gave an (almost complete) overview for the locations of my Pembrokeshire holiday!!

I was also able to see and photograph St. David's cathedral from an unaccustomed angle...

After returning to the mainland and a quick visit to my holiday accomodation I returned to St. Justinians for an evening boat expedition. This took us out across Ramsey Sound once again, spotting a pod of porpoises fishing in the strong tidal stream:

..then around the southern end of Ramsey, enjoying even better views of the guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes on the cliffs, of 100 or so grey seals relaxing on a beach, and some interesting sea caves and other geological features

before heading further out to sea towards the Bishop Islands, where we hoped to see some puffins. We saw two, at a distance....

The final objective of this excursion, however, was to watch out for manx shearwaters (latin name, ironically being "puffinus puffinus"!!) returning to their nests on Skomer and Skokholm after a day out feeding in the Irish sea. Later in the season we could hope to see thousands passing the boat in the course of an hour. Today we saw only a couple of dozen. But we DID see them, flying gracefully and low over the sea like little black and white albatrosses, and that was quite a treat!!

This most enjoyable boat trip ended with beautiful backward views to the Bishop Islands

and an interestingly abrupt increase in air temperature as we neared the mainland!