A day at Llanelli Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust

Hi all - well yesterday Stef and I headed up to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, based on the Burry Estuary in Llanelli. I have been meaning to get up there for years, and finally got my backside in gear!! Let me just say at the outset that this place is AWESOME and we both immediately took out annual membership!

I think it was established around 10 years ago and is a fabulous place to visit, especially if like me you are trying to improve your photography skills, and your interested in shooting wildlife (not literally..!). The array of different landscapes are incredible - ponds, pools, reedbeds, scrub, marsh, fresh and saltwater lagoons all attracting various rare wildlife, particularly wading and rare migrants. As soon as you head into the centre check out the sitings board - truly amazinh the range of birds that are living on our doorstep. Of particular interest to me were the birds of prey, with Buzzard, Peregrine, Goshawk and Sparrowhawk all being spotted recently.

If you're into 'Birding' (the trendy modern phrase for a birdwatcher or twitcher) prepared to see some hardcore individuals with lenses that could poke you are eye out at a 100 yards, prob worth around £7000 mark!!! Anyway i trundled along happily with my new Canon EOS 450d, continuing to experiment. Highlights of the day included a great pic of a grey heron (one of my fave birds) spotted from one of the many great hides theyve built there.

Other great spots were beautiful male Emperor Dragonfly, which i managed to capture very luckily as they spend most of their time in the air, even eating on the wing. They are also agressive and territorial so i was pretty pleased with the shot. Amazing creatures and hard to believe they are around 200 million years old. I also got a couple of shots of Damsel flies mating in a 'wheel' as its known, whereby the male hangs off the thorax of the female.

After getting lost in the maze of lagoons we finally found our way back, and happily parted with our cash to join the WWT. I can see us both being regular visitors here as we were really blown away. Packed lunch next time though at £2.80 for a sarnie !! ;0) Later ....Stu