Visit to WWT Slimbridge 30th April 2013
We had stopped off at Slimbridge to break up our journey back from Somerset to Manchester and again we stayed at the Tudor Arms Hotel in Slimbridge. This afforded us a chance to go to WWT Slimbridge once again before we had to go home. We started off by going up the observation tower at the visitor centre which was just as well because it was the last chance we had to see the Cranes. We could see three of them on Rushy Pen but we didn’t see much of them before they all flew off in the direction of the Severn estuary. Be that as it may we still had a fine morning.We dropped off at the breeding pens on the path towards the “Discovery Hide” overlooking the South Lake. Here we had really nice views of the Avocets but interestingly there were some captive Black Winged Stilts so we had close views of the same species we had seen wild at Ham Wall. We also had a really good chance to see close up the differences between Redshanks and Ruff. I spent quite a while taking some photographs before we headed off to the South Lake.
On the lake the star species was the Arctic Terns which were highly active and impossible to photograph. I soon forgot the idea of trying and just took in the birdlife. There were large numbers of Black-tailed Godwit and Greylag and Canada Geese. Shelduck, Mallard, Shoveler and Tufted Duck were all there. Lapwings flapped around and a Little Egret could be seen stalking its prey.
We did wander up to the Kingfisher Hide but we didn’t manage to see them this time. We weren’t about to complain, though. Slimbridge is always a treat and this even extended to the car park where I had a walk around before we left for Manchester. Had I thought about it beforehand I would have walked around the car park first because the bushes were full birds. There were numerous skulking Warblers and it seemed like there might have been a reed bed behind it because I could clearly hear Reed Warblers. I got some odd looks myself creeping around the car park but I didn’t get arrested !
Bird Sightings : WWT Slimbridge
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Greylag Goose | 12 |
| Canada Goose | 10 |
| Shelduck | 40 |
| Mallard | 12 |
| Shoveler | 6 |
| Tufted Duck | 12 |
| Little Egret | 1 |
| Great Crested Grebe | 1 |
| Buzzard | 1 |
| Moorhen | 4 |
| Coot | 4 |
| Crane | 3 |
| Lapwing | 12 |
| Black-tailed Godwit | 30 |
| Black-headed Gull | 20 |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | 20 |
| Arctic Tern | 8 |
| Rock Dove / Feral Pigeon | 12 |
| Woodpigeon | 8 |
| Jackdaw | 20 |
| Great Tit | 1 |
| Willow Warbler | 1 |
| Reed Warbler | 1 |
| Wren | 2 |