Wild Orlando (October 2015)

On the 3rd October we visited Orlando, Florida for two weeks. We love going on holiday to Orlando for the pure escapism of the theme parks and, of course, the warm weather. Since visting two years ago our interest in nature and wildlife has grown massively and although Mickey Mouse looked very exciting, the actual osprey that was flying overhead looked even more so!

Florida is full of amazing wildlife, the largest native reptile is the alligator so it doesn't get more impressive than that. This blog will show some of the wildlife that we saw on our travels around the Orlando area. We never went looking for them, they were just there and too awesome to pass by without getting a picture.

Birds 

There were birds literally everywhere! Not just small song birds, but big pelicans and herons. Orlando is a densely populated area all year round with tourists and these birds didn't seem the least bit bothered with people getting quite near to them. The highlight of the holiday though was seeing an Osprey fly over Downtown Disney (now called Disney's Springs).

American white ibis in Disney's Hollywood Studio

A member of the sparrow family in Disney's Hollywood Studio

Northern Mockingbird on International Drive

Osprey flying over Disney Springs

Anhinga in Disney's Epcot

White Egret in Disney's Magic Kingdom

Turkey vulture flying over Disney's Magic Kingdom (Photo by @DanTurner23)

Wood Stork near Walmart (apologies for bad phone image)

Brown pelican near Universal Studios (Photo by @DanTurner23)

Little blue heron near Universal Studios (Photo by @DanTurner23)

Double crested cormorant near Universal Studios (Photo by @DanTurner23)

Snowy egret near Universal Studios (Photo by @DanTurner23)

Insects

There were lots of dragonflies and butterflies around but it was very difficult to get pics of them. I was gutted not to get a picture of a swallowtail in Epcot, one of the most beautiful butterflies of all.

A Gulf Fritillary on International Drive

White Peacock butterfly on International Drive

Huge grasshopper spotted whilst playing crazy golf in Universal Studios

Reptiles

Lizards are everywhere! Just walking down International Drive you see literally hundreds - they are so cute and I need to identify them all correctly...if you guys know their names can you let me know :)

Lizard on the floor on International Drive

Lizard in Disney's Epcot

Lizard on the miniature village in Disney's Epcot

Lizard on tree in Disney's Hollywood Studio (photo by @DanTurner23)

Mammals

The only mammals we really saw were grey squirrels. There were lots of them around.

Squirrel with nut outside Denny's, International Drive

Our holiday was fantastic and we did visit a place called 'Wild Florida' where we took an air boat ride through the Florida everglades. We got to see the amazing bald eagle in the wild. I am working on a individual blog for that one...

Crymlyn Bog, Swansea - 6th August 2015

Crymlyn Bog is a nature reserve near Swansea City Centre. It is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest and is the largest area of lowland fen in Wales.

It is open all year round and is fairly easy to find just off Fabian Way (see Google Map below). There are plenty of parking spaces, as well as a visitor centre* and a few benches in this area where you can sit and enjoy the views. (*NB the visitor centre was closed when we were there and I am not sure when it opens)

Our walk began by reading the information sign and then following the green way markers through a wooden gate and onto the path.

An information plaque showing the map

A wooden gate with a waymarker sign.

The paths were well laid and each side has plenty of flowers, butterflies and an unusual looking wasp or bee which I think is actually a striped hoverfly.

Striped hoverfly

Centaury Flower

Gatekeeper butterfly

Meadow Brown on Clover

We arrived at some boardwalks which were surrounded by bog and reedbeds and it wasn't long before we saw our first dragonfly - a beautiful Common Darter. We could also see little black lizards, but they were impossible to get pictures of. We continued along the boardwalk and came to a dead end where there was another information plaque and a large pond. There were several huge dragonflies flying around and we waited patiently for a kingfisher or heron to make an appearance.

The boardwalk

Common Darter

An information plaque showing what you could potentially see

Full of lilies and huge dragonflies

We doubled backed on ourselves and made our way through some deciduous trees and arrived at some more boardwalks. This time we saw another dragonfly and it seemed the lizards were getting bigger and were basking in the sun so we could get some decent pics of them.

The path through some woodland

A chaser dragonfly (not sure of exact species)

A pair of juvenile Common Lizards

A close up of a common lizard

You can see how tiny they are from this pic (the lizard is just on the side of the boardwalk)

We continued walking around the boardwalk and saw a variety of insects and more and more lizards were appearing - in fact they were everywhere!. We also saw a beautiful Black Tailed Skimmer dragonfly. The boardwalks are fantastic and some parts the reed beds were really high and full of critters.

Hogweed Beetles

Lizard with no tail

Adult Common Lizard

The boardwalk surrounded with high reeds

Adult Common lizard

Pregnant (?) Common Lizard

Such striking colours on this one

Black Tailed Skimmer Dragonfly

When we left the boardwalks we passed some horses grazing in the long grass and visited a lovely pond that looked like an ideal place where a kingfisher could perch - unfortunately no kingfisher this time, but there were plenty of tiny toads. We also saw a gorgeous looking juvenile robin, it didn't seem too bothered that we were taking pics of it.

Horses grazing in the long grass

I can just imagine a kingfisher on that perch

Tiny toad...

...only the size of my finger nail awwwww

Juvenile robin

We could get really close to him - so cute!

The last section takes you through a farmer's field where we passed several horses (with a cute foal) and saw many butterflies including a Brimstone and a Comma. Closer to the visitor centre we saw an impressive puffball fungi.

Horses with an adorable foal

Cinnabar Moth Caterpillar

Comma Butterfly

Brimstone butterfly

Puffball fungi

Back at the visitor centre and the car park we had a well deserved rest near the pond. There was plenty of activity around the pond including a damselfly and a pond beetle I couldn't identify. 

The walk was topped off by eventually managing to get an half decent photo of a Southern Hawker Dragonfly.

Crymlyn Bog is a fantastic hidden gem and is really easy to get to. We were blown away by the amount of nature there and have never seen so many lizards in one place. We will definitely be going back to see how it changes throughout the seasons.

The pond near the visitor centre

Damselfly

Some kind of water beetle

Southern Hawker Dragonfly

A map to Crymlyn Bog from Fabian Way...