A trip to visit friends in Bristol was a good excuse for us to stop off at WWT Slimbridge on the afternoon of the 4th of September. We had the chance to make two visits because we stayed at The Tudor Arms Hotel overnight and so had a chance for a second round of the reserve the next morning as well.
We arrived around 1pm and we were informed that it was high tide down at the river and that we could get good views of retreating birds as the tide came in. We walked down to where the Holden Tower is now being rebuilt and took the “Summer Walkway” along to the small portable hide that overlooks the estuary. Unfortunately the tide was so high that all the birds had gone apart from a fair number of Curlew in the fields. There was quite a high wind and we were a bit disappointed at the lack of birds. A small flock of Shelduck flying by wasn’t quite doing it for us.
That all changed as we looked along the wooden fence by the pillobox mound on the way back. It was not long before we started to get quite a few Whinchat and then two, or sometimes three, Yellow Wagtails, both year ticks for us so our walk all the way down from the reception had been worth it after all.
We returned back to the visitor centre via the other hides but the best sightings were from the.Rushy where we got very close views of a coupleof Snipe, a few rather sleepy Common Cranes, a Green Sandpiper and a range of the usual ducks. After a cup of tea we headed down to South Lake where we added Black-tailed Godwit, Common Redshank, Ruff and Little Ringed Plover to our day list. There wer Sand Martins hawking over the pools.
By this time the afternoon was getting on a bit so with forty species including a couple of year ticks and some good Crane views we decided to head to the hotel for a drink and a shower. A pretty good couple of hours.
The following morning wass really clear and bright so we spent longer than we had intended walkijg around the reserve. We saw pretty much the same as the previous day but were able to add a pair of Black Terns seen flying around over the South Lake. We have seen Black Terns a few times this year but it is still good to see them and fun watching them defy the hide photographers with their incredible speed and ability to chage direction instantly.
Bird Sightings WWT Slimbridge 4th September 2019
| Greylag Goose | 80 | |
| Mute Swan | 4 | |
| Common Shelduck | 12 | |
| Northern Shoveler | 6 | |
| Gadwall | 12 | |
| Mallard | 40 | |
| Common Teal | 30 | |
| Tufted Duck | 5 | |
| Little Grebe | 1 | |
| Feral Pigeon | 20 | |
| Common Wood Pigeon | 20 | |
| Eurasian Collared Dove | 2 | |
| Common Moorhen | 8 | |
| Common Coot | 14 | |
| Common Crane | 3 | |
| Northern Lapwing | 20 | |
| Little Ringed Plover | 1 | |
| Eurasian Curlew | 30 | |
| Black-tailed Godwit | 12 | |
| Ruff | 6 | |
| Common Snipe | 1 | |
| Green Sandpiper | 1 | |
| Common Redshank | 30 | |
| Black-headed Gull | 40 | |
| Herring Gull | 6 | |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 2 | |
| Great Cormorant | 8 | |
| Grey Heron | 1 | |
| Eurasian Jackdaw | 8 | |
| Carrion Crow | 4 | |
| Sand Martin | 6 | |
| Barn Swallow | 10 | |
| Common House Martin | 10 | |
| Common Starling | 20 | |
| Whinchat | 6 | |
| House Sparrow | 6 | |
| Eurasian Tree Sparrow | 20 | |
| Western Yellow Wagtail (Yellow) | 3 | |
| Pied Wagtail | 3 | |
| European Goldfinch | 20 |
Bird Sightings WWT Slimbridge 5th September 2019
| Barnacle Goose | 30 |
| Mute Swan | 20 |
| Gadwall | 4 |
| Mallard | 20 |
| Tufted Duck | 4 |
| Feral Pigeon | 20 |
| Stock Dove | 1 |
| Common Moorhen | 12 |
| Common Coot | 20 |
| Common Crane | 5 |
| Pied Avocet | 2 |
| Northern Lapwing | 20 |
| Little Ringed Plover | 2 |
| Black-tailed Godwit | 20 |
| Ruff | 6 |
| Common Snipe | 2 |
| Common Redshank | 20 |
| Black-headed Gull | 20 |
| Herring Gull | 4 |
| Great Black-backed Gull | 4 |
| Black Tern | 2 |
| Great Cormorant | 6 |
| Grey Heron | 1 |
| Eurasian Magpie | 4 |
| Rook | 10 |
| Sand Martin | 10 |
| House Sparrow | 6 |
| Eurasian Tree Sparrow | 10 |
| Pied Wagtail | 1 |
| European Goldfinch | 10 |