Day 15 - 30 Days Wild - Lifetime achievement - I spotted a kingfisher!

* Today's random act of wildness - I spotted a kingfisher...YES! *

After disappointing news this morning with no boats going to Skomer due to Northern winds we decided to salvage the day by driving all the way to Cilgerran to see if we could spot a kingfisher!

All my life I have wanted to see a kingfisher and due to whatever reason I have always been unlucky by not being there at the right time. Yesterday I noticed on Facebook that a kingfisher had been spotted at The Welsh Wildlife Centre in Cilgerran, Cardigan. So instead of going to see puffins on Skomer we ventured north-west to try and finally see a kingfisher.

We got to the Wildlife Trust's flagship reserve at around midday and the sun was starting to come out. We made our way to the kingfisher hide (yes, that's what its called) and sat and waited. Apart from a stunning young heron and a few mallard there was no sign of it.

A rather splendid looking heron

There were a few guys already there with their cameras and at around 12:45 we all saw a flash of blue pass our eyes and there infront of us was a kingfisher! We all got so excited we must have made such a noise that it flew off...we were all devastated, but I had seen my first ever kingfisher and I had tears in my eye.

After our noisy excitement we kept super quiet and within 10 minutes he returned and we were able to get some half decent pics. He stayed with us for about 15 minutes flying from different branches and what a sight it was. I have always wanted to see one and I wasn't disappointed, it was the most beautiful bird I had ever seen.

The beautiful kingfisher

The pics are a bit blurry he was quite far away

Such a beautiful bird...

...and worth the wait :)

What a wonderful day it had been and at last I can tick it off my 'ultimate birds' list...next bird, the bittern! It was almost 5pm when we eventually left the hide and decided to have a look around the rest of the magnificent reserve.

These are some of the other gems we stumbled across:

The most beautiful Demoiselle Damselfly

Whitethroat feeding it's fledgling

Stunning buzzard flying quite low

Dunnock with it's dinner

The small tortoiseshell butterfly basking on the boardwalk.

So what a thing to see on Day15, half way through #30DaysWild. A day I will never forget :)

Below is a drawing I did on January 1st 2016 and it included a pic of a kingfisher because it was one of my new year's resolutions to see one...