We took a trip to Ceredigion in Wales last week – we think that’s our 4th visit in the last 12 months.

We love the variety of walking on offer in the area – woodland, farmland, riversides and coastal scenery are all within easy reach.

One rather special and rare habitat that we visited was to be found at Cors Caron National Nature Reserve. It’s a large, open expanse of ancient peat bog – with various footpaths, gravel tracks and raised ‘decking’ walkways to explore. It covers an area of approximately 2,000 acres in total. The raised bogs built up from deep layers of peat have taken around 12,000 years to form.

This was the first time that we’ve actually visited the site in mid-summer – and really beautiful it was too.

It was green and lush with huge, clear blue skies above.

We strolled slowly around the reserve taking in the scenery and wildlife. Bees, butterflies, dragonflies, damselflies and all manner of other insects flitted and buzzed around. An incredible 170 bird species have been recorded here and you could here various songs and calls as you walked. We particularly loved the sound of the curlew that drifted across the site. We didn’t see any otters on this visit, but apparently they do roam these waterways – along with other mammals such as water voles and polecats.

We stopped for a moment at the hide – what a view! From inside the dark, enclosed hide – the outside seems to stretch out in Techni-colour before you.

The Cors Caron reserve is also home to many interesting, and sometimes rare, wild flower species such as the bog asphodel (pictured below), cotton grass and sphagnum moss.

If you’re ever in the area be sure to stop and take a wander. There are walks of varying distances on offer, you’ll come across wonderful sights on all of them.

It’s an uplifting, life affirming place. Hopefully we’ll return very soon!

If you click on the panoramic image above, you can see it in greater detail. Additionally, if you’re planning a visit, you can download a PDF copy of the map here.