Wales: It was a good walk from our flat upstream along the River Teifi to the Welsh Wildlife Centre and Teifi Marshes Nature Reserve - a return trip for us, as we enjoyed a visit the last time we were in Wales. Run by the Welsh Wildlife Trust, it has hides looking out over the river and areas of marsh and reedbed. It's popular and you would no doubt see more if you went early or late in the day, when there'd be fewer disturbances. Nevertheless we were pleased to see a little egret fishing. We saw them occasionally on the estuary outside our flat but this one was much closer.
The hides are all named and in the Kingfisher Hide we saw... a magnificent grey heron:
and - would you believe it! - a kingfisher. That was a real thrill. We watched it for quite a while as it was sitting on a branch and then diving for fish. It was too far away for a good photo (my lens isn't long enough and this is heavily cropped) but it's the best image I've ever got of a kingfisher. I don't know why they are so exciting as they are not uncommon on our rivers. I guess it's their vibrant colour and the speed with which they move, so that you rarely get more than a glimpse of a flash of electric blue.
After that excitement, it was time for a coffee in the Visitor Centre, though I stopped to capture some pretty pink hawthorn, which is much rarer than the usual white blossom.
The Visitor Centre is an imaginative glass and wood structure, with a nice café on the upper level and a shop and educative displays lower down.
Egrets, Herons and Kingfishers - not much fun being a fish at the Welsh Wildlife Centre.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see the shore birds...and I laughed that the Kingfisher hide gave you another bird's photo, while the actual Kingfisher was elsewhere. Glad you got that pretty one of him. My memory may be wrong, but I think of a Kingfisher as having a topnot on his head, perhaps a different breed.
ReplyDeleteOur Kingfishers are quite different in their colors!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful countryside.
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