Blue Waves

It was on the Welsh news last night that bioluminescent plankton had been spotted off the Welsh coast at Southerndown (Glamorgan Heritage Coast, Wales). It's quite rare in the UK to see this as it normally occurs in hot countries like the Maldives where the sea is warm. With the hot weather we're having it'd been spotted the last two evenings. The best time is between midnight and 3am, so I arrived after midnight to see quite a few photographers in the dark, on the beach, looking out to sea!

Some  plankton can glow in the dark. The word for this is "bioluminescence" which comes from “bio,” meaning life, and “lumin,” meaning light. ...  The plankton don't glow all of the time. They tend to glow as a defence mechanism when disturbed, hence lighting up when the waves crash!


About 1.30am the waves started to illuminate blue every now and again and it was fascinating and amazing to watch this amazing phenomena of nature. An hour easily passed before the glowing waves vanished.

It's a shame it was such a cloudy night as it could only have been bettered by taking photo's of it with the stars above.

Lens used:    Voigtlander VM mount 40mm F1.2 at F1.2