The wildlife spotters, anglers and day trippers on coastal piers

From wildlife spotters to anglers, day-trippers and acold dippers, Wales' piers are a hive of activity.

In mid Wales, Aberystwyth Royal Pier successful Ceredigion attracts some amusement arcade enthusiasts and roosting starlings who gully crowds erstwhile they flock to make magnificent murmurations.

In the north, visitors to Bangor Garth Pier are drawn to its creation gallery, trade shops and tearoom.

On a sunny time successful October, angler Jay Lewis was enjoying the peaceful views implicit the Severn Estuary connected Penarth Pier successful the Vale of Glamorgan, southbound Wales.

The 55-year-old had travelled for adjacent to an hr from his location successful Pontypool, Torfaen, for the experience.

"I endure with slump and it's the lone happening that helps," helium explained.

"It's conscionable relaxing and you get plentifulness of clip to think."

Jay, a subordinate of Penarth Sea Angling Club, comes for the bass, cod, rays and eels, and besides the societal interaction.

"I bask radical coming connected to maine to spot what I’ve been catching," helium said.

"And it’s casual fishing, you've got the toilets, you’ve got the shops and the views are lovely."

Penarth Pier, present 117 years aged and instantly recognisable with its creation deco styled pavilion building, permits sportfishing for 9 months of the year.

John Atkinson, 69, from adjacent Llandough, has been angling for 45 years and the pier is his regular spot.

"It takes your caput distant from different things. You tin conscionable ore connected the sportfishing and it takes distant each your problems," helium said.

"You onslaught up friendships with radical wherever you’ve got thing successful common.

"I’ve met radical from America, Canada, Australia, each implicit - tourists inquire you what you're catching and you onslaught up conversation."

Almost 200 miles (321 km) northbound of Penarth is Wales’ longest pier - Llandudno successful the region of Conwy.

Originally 242 ft (72m) agelong connected its opening time successful 1858, it was extended successful 1877 and present stands astatine 2,295ft (700m).

The Grade II-listed operation won the National Piers Society pier of the twelvemonth grant successful 2005.

Earlier this year, it was announced its sportfishing level would beryllium closed disconnected for the foreseeable aboriginal pursuing a fig of incidents.

"The frequence successful verbal maltreatment we’re receiving and changeless harm to the gross is relentless," its wide manager posted connected societal media.

"We wanted everyone to bask themselves and unluckily the number has ruined it for others."

The municipality made the headlines during the Covid pandemic erstwhile a herd of astir 122 Kashmiri goats ventured from the Great Orme and took implicit the deserted town centre, eating hedges and flowers from gardens.

A enactment of Llandudno goats merchandise, including t-shirts and tote bags, rapidly followed and has since raised thousands for the town's hospice.

Visitors to New Quay's pier successful Ceredigion, mid Wales, tin brushwood an altogether antithetic wildlife experience.

Marine life-spotting trips permission from the pier and caput into Cardigan Bay, which is location to astir 200 dolphins, the lone semi-resident colonisation of bottlenose dolphins successful Wales, and the largest successful the UK.

The bay is besides location to harbour porpoise, Atlantic grey seals and a assortment of vertebrate beingness including razorbills and guillemots.

The chromatic pier was built successful the 1830s and remains indispensable to manufacture successful the seaside town.

"It is the main absorption of the town," said skipper Jonathan Evans, who spends his days collecting visitors disconnected the pier earlier dazzling them with the area's wildlife from his vessel the Suncatcher.

After spending 19 years arsenic a lensman successful London helium decided to determination location to Wales to assistance his dada with household business.

“We are privileged to person chaotic dolphins present and that ne'er gets old, each azygous time you spot chaotic dolphins and its exciting," helium said.

Suncatcher unit subordinate Lauren Walthour, who has a grade successful Marine Biology, said the operation of the pier created the cleanable conditions for dolphins to feed.

"The pier juts retired to oversea and truthful erstwhile the tides travel successful and retired it forces the food astir the precise extremity of it, benignant of trapping them, and these dolphins volition usage those tides to get immoderate casual pickings for a meal," she said.

She said it made the pier a "dolphin blistery spot".

She said arsenic Cardigan Bay was shallow, being astir 60m astatine its deepest, it meant the dolphins had nary predators, specified arsenic orcas oregon sharks.

"So these dolphins are apical of the nutrient concatenation and the apex predator truthful this is simply a truly safe, shallow protected nursery for these mothers to rise their calves and that's wherefore their colonisation is presently thriving truthful well," she added.

She said everyone who visited was enamoured by the dolphins.

"They are conscionable precise charismatic, precise playful, precise social, precise curios and precise intelligent and that's wherefore radical emotion them," she said.

"Any brushwood with them, whether its abbreviated oregon long, is ever incredible."

Photography by Greg Davies