Kingfisher at Forest Farm, Cardiff

Date:  15 June 2017

Location:  Forest Farm, Cardiff

Without doubt, one of my favourite bird is the kingfisher. I haven't seen many in my life and it was only last year I saw my first one. A spectacular, colourful little bird that is so charming to see and I get so excited when I get a glimpse of one.

Recently on Facebook I noticed there had been a few spotted in a lovely little place called 'Forest Farm' in Whitechurch, Cardiff. A great place and a haven to wildlife with some really good bird hides. We got comfortable in one of the hides and waited; whilst waiting we meet a lot of lovely people all eager to to get a glimpse of this beautiful bird.

A few other birds made an appearance, including a grey heron, green woodpecker and moorhens:

Grey Heron

Adult moorhen

Juvenile Moorhen

It must have been well over an hour before we got our reward, my partner Dan spotted it in the back of the pond. It was quite hard to see at first, with the orange breast blending into the reeds. But as soon as he started flying, with that striking blue, there was no way you could miss him.

The beautiful kingfisher at Forest Farm

Unfortunately, he was only around for about a minute and never returned when we were there. We didn't mind, we saw him and that was enough to make us smile!

I will definitely make Forest Farm one of my 'go to' birding places, it's great! Here are some of the other treats we saw:

Closeup of a Magpie from one of the hides

Great Tit

Not far from the education building we discovered this little patch of wild flowers; isn't beautiful? I would much rather see flowers like this than a well mowed lawn :)

Red tailed bumble bee collecting pollen from a cornflower.

My 200 Bird Year Challenge!

Happy new year everyone :)

New year, new challenge and what better way to start than taking part in the Bird Watching Magazine challenge - #My200BirdYear. It encourages you to see 200 species in the course of 2018. This is a brief idea of what the challenge entails: 

"They can be anything from the birds you see on your back garden feeders, to seabirds passing offshore as you relax on the beach. There are no restrictions on where you do your birdwatching, and you won’t have to wait for your ticks to be approved by a committee – it’s all about enjoying new birds, and learning more about the wildlife all around us."

I am going to keep updating my page - you can find it above under My 200 Bird Year 2018.

#My200BirdYear http://www.birdwatching.co.uk/my200

My first kingfisher at The Welsh Wildlife Centre, Cilgerran

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.

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...

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...