An afternoon at Crymlyn Bog

Hello !! Today I ventured out to another new area that id been intending to explore for some time - Crymlyn Bog in Swansea. It is hard to believe that such a haven exists, slotted between the Tir John Landfill site, and the M4 !!! Moreover, Crymlyn Bog is one of the largest lowland fens in the UK, and is home to a wide array of wildlife from Kingfishers to reed warblers.

Theres a car park at the extreme eastern side of kilvey hill , past the entrance to Tir John. There is a visitor centre but it only opens by request. Greeted by some rather aggressive horses, i head down one of the paths, which leads to a wooden boardwalk, accross the open fen. No sooner do i step on the boardwalk than i startle a huge raptor which im assuming is a buzzard as my spotting skills aint up to scratch yet. I tried to catch it but only managed to get a distant shot of it perched. Please someone buy me an 600mm telephoto!!

From there i headed off to explore the rest of the bog and came across this Chaffinch, who sat unaware of me long enough to get a pretty decent shot. This really is an amazing place, and really quite weird to be watching a bird of prey just behind Fabian Way.

I sat and had lunch and tried to get a shot of the Emperor Dragonfly that buzzed around the bog, not an easy task. Pleased that i had the rare opportunity to photograph one at rest a couple of weeks back at the wetlands centre. As i headed back past the touchy horses (look at the menace in his eye! I took a photo of a buttercup with my new macro lens and really quite please with the results.

This is a great place to visit, and would be even better if they put a hide down here (listening Countryside Council for Wales????? ;0) ) Later....Stuart.