Kingfishers

While on holiday in Pembrokeshire, Wales I visited the Welsh Wildlife Centre at Cilgerran near the River Teifi. The Wildlife Centre building is a magnificent structure and won an architectural design award in 1993. The surrounding area is owned and managed by the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales and has numerous hides along many trails.





One of these hides is called the kingfisher hide. I have visited many hides before and have tried to photograph kingfishers on many occasions too. Most hides I have visited are great for viewing nature from a distance but rarely close enough to photograph anything.





On this occasion as I walked into the hide a young couple said 'your just in time he's posing for you.....', I couldn't believe my luck. There was a kingfisher only a few feet away sitting on a branch. I very carefully got my equipment set up and was extremely fortunate to watch this kingfisher catch a small fish, spend many minutes hitting it against the perch it was standing on before eating it, and eventually bringing up the pellet.


It was a truly magical experience and I used up a whole memory card. I decided to walk back to the car and get some more memory cards and to see if any of the family would like to come and see the kingfishers.




We all went back to the hide and waited for about 45mins before the others decided to go to the cafe after not seeing anything. I decided to visit some of the other hides but as there were a bunch of lads in canoes chasing birds along the river I gave up and went back to the kingfisher hide.











As I stepped into the hide I couldn't believe my luck as this time the male and the female were both there. I also saw some reed warblers, but they were a little way off. It was certainly a day I won't forget for a long time.