After the revelry of last week and entertaining my bestie for her Birthday on New Year’s Day, I’m a bit late on my latest Photographic Friday. Anyway, I am sure you’ve been busy too and will forgive me. And Happy New Year to you. May 2025 be full of laughter, health and love.

This week’s Photographic Friday is focused on our time in between Faro and Alvor, in Portugal’s Algarve, where bird life, sea and coastal scenes are the name of the game. And I’m guessing that this may be a similar theme over the coming weeks too, with a bit of variety thrown in for good measure.

Thanks to my technical guru Anna it should now be easier to see my photos by clicking on the images. They will bring them up as larger perspectives on all your devices.

Let me know if you get better views of these images now. So, if you are ready let’s go.

1. Tomato Beach, Falésia in the Algarve – Part 1

After our delicious time with our friends in Ourique for Christmas we took ourselves off down to the Algarve where we would have a couple of rendezvous with friends. The first was at Tomato Beach, which is an off-grid site where the old tomato greenhouses used to be. Now it is a large open field, which during low season seems to be tolerated by the GNR.

As we sat relaxing in the sun, one of my favourite foreign birds hoped into my eye line. The Hoopoe is a beautiful creature although notoriously difficult to photograph as they are quite literally hopping everywhere. Still, these two came out quite well.

The walks along the beach and cliffs of Falésia offers a plethora of beautiful things to capture. If you are lucky to catch the herd of goats and sheep that graze these cliffs, then they are a joy to photograph. The sheep dog in particular was so sweet and his owner gave him permission to come say hello whilst he was resting. Whilst the lighting was tricky beneath the trees, it actually created some really lovely shots. Look closely at the dog’s eyes and the reflections.

And the sunsets here are so lovely, just to sit, watch and reflect. The Algarve certainly knows how to do sunsets and when access to them is so close to where we call home, then it is a real treat.

2. Faro – Ludo Trail

So whilst we waited for my friend to fly in on 30 December, I did the Ludo Boardwalk from Faro airport, along the lagoon towards Quinta da Lago and Vale do Lobo. There were some terrific shots to be had with the waders here, that ranged from Redshanks,, Flamingoes, Sandpipers and Black-winged stilts to name just a few. I must admit to photo overload here, partly because there were some lovely reflections that I wanted to capture in the late afternoon sun.

And of course, no wildlife shoot would be complete without a few plant shots to show off. And despite the fact that it is winter in Portugal, there are still blooms to be found.

3. Tomato Beach – Part 2

After New Year in Alvor, one of the prettiest places along the Algarve, we headed back with my bestie to Tomato Beach for a few days. Not before the wrath of the campsite owner at the Algarve Motorhome Aire decided to be arrogant, disrespectful and refuse us entry for services. We will of course vote with our voices and tyres and never ever go to his site ever again.

Choosing to walk off my anger, we did a beautiful beach walk, which gave a very different perspective of this region than the lofty cliff walk the week earlier. It is such a stunning part of the world with more incredible sunsets than you can shake a stick at. I would like to mention that I have full permission from my friend to post the pictures of her braving the Atlantic waves.

I always love to imagine what the story is with people who I capture with my camera. What joys and sadness to they carry in their strides? What are they thinking as they walk, sit or brave the elements? I am so intrigued by their inner worlds.

And then there are those images where just a single centre-piece just calls to be captured, even if it defies the laws of ‘The rule of thirds’, which finishes us off nicely for this week’s slightly late Photographic Friday.