Visit to Arlingham and Slimbridge Village : 22nd June 2011
We were scheduled to attend a wedding on the 24th June at Montacute in Somerset so we decided to break up our journey by stopping off at Slimbridge in Gloucestershire. On our way there we took a bit of a detour to look at a restaurant,” The Old Passage” in Arlingham (also in Gloucester)This is situated on the edge of the River Severn in an oxbow of the river. We then drove from there along the Severn in the direction of Upper Framilode. We stopped for a while by a bend in the road to look at the birds on the edges of the estuary. We were pleased to see what was for us the first colony of Sand Martins in a sandbank that were natural rather than man made. There were probably at least 40 Sand Martins flying around very near to us.
Also visible on the mud were a Moorhen, a Heron and around 20 Lapwing and lots of Canada Geese. In the trees around were House Sparrows, Woodpigeons, Magpies and in all we saw three Buzzards as we drove along. After getting a bit lost we got back on track for Slimbridge. We were staying at The Tudor Arms hotel, a pub with (much better than usual) accommodation in a converted barn but we did not arrive until late afternoon so we didn’t have time to visit the nearby WWT centre just down the road a little from the pub/hotel. Instead we took a walk along the banks of the Gloucester to Sharpness Canal.
We crossed the canal bridge and turned right at the far side which took us along fields on the one side and the canal on our right. In the fields to the left were probably around a hundred crows many huddled around one of the cattle feeding bins. As we walked along the banks we could see a very large number of Swallows and House Martins. We could also see flying overhead some Black-headed Gulls and a single Common Tern also flew by. On the water were large numbers of Mallards and their young and also half a dozen Mute Swans. In the trees we saw Goldfinch and a Chiffchaff. At the next lock we saw a female Tufted Duck and four Pied Wagtails.
By this time we were about ready for some dinner and a drink so we walked back to the pub enjoying a lovely evening.
Bird List Arlington
- Canada Goose 20
- Grey Heron 1
- Lapwing 20
- Magpie 2
- Moorhen 1
- Sand Martin 40
- Woodpigeon 8
Bird List Slimbridge
- Blackbird 4
- Black-headed Gull 4
- Carrion Crow 100
- Chiffchaff 1
- Common Tern 1
- Goldfinch 6
- House Martin 30
- Mallard 30
- Mute Swan 6
- Pied Wagtail 4
- Swallow 40
- Tufted Duck 1
Arlingham / Framilode Location
The Tudor Arms Location