Nodonata

R and I went to Cardiff today to play with Baby B, and while he was having his lunchtime nap we took ourselves off to the nearby Forest Farm nature reserve. This is a an excellent amenity, especially given that it's quite close to the centre of the city, and we thoroughly enjoyed our walk. My only disappointment was the low number of invertebrates I managed to find along the bank of the canal: there were a few (uncooperative) damsels and demoiselles, a handful of bugs, and a reasonable complement of biting flies, but I only saw one butterfly, and one unidentifiable dragon which flashed past at high speed and didn't return. I'd been hoping to post a Welsh dragon and I was a bit sad not to get any on camera, but Forest Farm is a recognised Odonata site, so I assume that the dull and not especially warm weather was keeping the dragons in their roosts. We'll certainly visit again, and hope for better luck next time.

There were plenty of birds and small mammals about in the area we walked, which would have been interesting subjects if I'd had a longer lens with me, but I was travelling light with only the macro so I had to content myself with photographing a few of the bolder and closer birds. This moorhen was also searching the lily pads for invertebrates, but was using a rather more effective technique than mine.