Another Visit to Slimbridge...

Date: 6th February 2017

Location: WWT Slimbridge

Weather: Cloudy, Overcast, Light Rain Showers

Other Species: Bewick Swan, White Fronted Goose, Dunlin, Golden Plover, Common Crane, Lapwing, Black-Tailed Godwit, Linnet, Song Thrush, Wren, Dunnock, Teal, Curlew, Wigeon, Cetti's Warbler, Barnacle Goose, Shelduck, Skylark - Of Note

Observation: After recent sightings of the Lapland Bunting and Goshawk at Slimbridge, we headed off early in the fog hoping for views of these. On arrival, the Rushy was full of wildfowl including Bewick Swans, Teal and Pochard. We spotted Widemouth (TUV ring) where she has wintered yearly at Slimbridge since 1999/2000.

Onto the Martin Smith hide, the waders on the Tack Piece were very mobile all day long.

Plenty of Golden Plover and Lapwing present this morning along with at least 4 White-Fronted Geese.

With the mobile wader flocks, a small flock of approx 30-40 birds were also spotted, we think Linnet... The poor light didn't help us today!

The Knott Hide never seems to disappoint, with a very showy Wren and this stunning Song Thrush doing very well catching worms.

The resident Otter's enjoyed having a bit of a play and a good old scratch today!

The Robbie Garnet Hide and Willow Hide had a few things to photograph, although the Tack Piece was the best to view.

 Wayne spotted a Cetti's Warbler's singing from Stephen Kirk Hide showing very well until it was chased off by another Cetti's.

 From the Holden Tower, the group of 60+ Barnacle Geese were closer in, happily feeding, no sign of the Lapland Bunting on the second visit, but 10 Skylark and some Meadow Pipit were present on the shoreline to the first pool.

 With the rain starting and the light fading we headed back to the Rushy for some last pictures, with the wader flocks still very mobile, it gave us plenty of opportunity's for flight shots!

On the return back home, we stopped off at Sharpness Docks in the hope of seeing the long-staying Black Redstart's. After a good search for about 20 minutes there was no sign so we headed home.

For now I am stuck on 99 for my life list and Wayne is speeding ahead on 119.

Hoping for some sunshine soon!


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A Wet Slimbridge and another Waxwing dip!

Date: 16th January 2017

Location: WWT Slimbridge

Weather: Cloudy, Low Cloud and Light Rain

Other Species: 115 Bewick Swan, Pochard, Pintail, Shelduck, Lapwing, Teal, Barnacle Goose, Buzzard, Kestrel, Rook, House Sparrow, Song Thrush, Wigeon, Bullfinch, Greater Black-Backed Gull, Reed Bunting, Mistle Thrush, 8 Common Crane, 58 Curlew, Redshank, Gadwall, Little Grebe, Cetti's Warbler, Dunlin, Herring Gull, Cormorant, Shoveler, Black-Tailed Godwit, Collared Dove - 51 Species Total

Observation: The weather looking pretty bad today, we headed to Slimbridge on the chance it may brighten up. On arrival, the Rushy was full with a total 16 species counted, including a count of 115 Bewick Swans.

We also spotted a single Redshank on the far island (too distant for any images).
A Lapwing having a good old preen in front of the hide.
 

Also got a slow-motion video here: Slow Motion - Lapwing

Visibility kept improving and then dropping, as you can see below.

A small group of Jackdaws were making a right racket outside the Holden Tower, but this pair stayed out the way.

No sign of the Water Rail from the Willow Hide today between 10.30-11.30.

The Martin Smith hide never seems to disappoint, today we had a count of 58 Curlew and 8 Common Crane along with plenty of other species.

This GPS tagged Bewick Swan 'UNN' was present on the Rushy on the return walk.

A single Peregrine Falcon was causing havoc on the Reserve today keeping all the waterbirds active!

We left Slimbridge at 1pm and headed for the 'reliable' Waxwings at Cheltenham. On arrival just after 1.30pm, there were no signs of any Waxwings and all berries from the Buildbase location had gone. We drove around the local estates and also onto Twickenham Road in the last hope but it resulted in another Waxwing dip, one day...

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Slimbridge with the new 7D Mark II..

Date: 19th December 2016

Location: WWT Slimbridge + Marshfield

Weather: Foggy, Light Wind and Warm (7 Degrees)

Other Species: Pintail, Pochard, Bewick Swan, Lapwing, Buzzard, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Shelduck, Shoveler, Wigeon, Barnacle Goose, Bullfinch, Wren, Marsh Harrier, Water Rail, Teal, Gadwall 

Marshfield: 50+ Red Legged Partridge, Pheasant, Starling, 4 Buzzard, 1 Kestrel, 4 Corn Bunting, Yellowhammer

Observation: With us both recently upgrading our camera kits, to Canon 7D Mark II, we headed to Slimbridge in the hope of some clear skies to try out the camera. On arrival the visibility was low due to fog. We headed for Rushy first, and were greeted by plenty of birds to photograph. The numbers of Bewick's have risen from 35 to 118 in the past 2 weeks!

The Bewick's were very active today.

Always nice to see Lapwing up close!

After around 150 shots, we moved to Martin Smith Hide, the usual Buzzard was sat on the fence with a friendly Robin sat with him!

The Robin didn't even flinch when the Buzzard flew at him!

Think the Pintail enjoyed the water not being frozen, plenty of opportunity's to capture them washing!

At the Knott hide, a small group of 7 Wigeon were in front the hide but later got spooked and flew to the main group in the water.

The Willow Hide seems to have some new additions of 6-7 Wood Mouse (we think!) keeping the dropped seeds under control!

As the fog was reducing visibility we headed back for a final check in Rushy and the Teal had come close enough for some nice shots.

A final Tufted Duck to end the day.

We headed back home via Marshfield to see if there was much about, there were large groups of Red-Legged Partridge we counted 50+ in a small area but the Pheasant were impossible to count as numbers were very high! Also 20+ Starling, Yellowhammer and 4 Corn Bunting also seen but too foggy for pictures.

The only shot from Marshfield was a Red-Legged Partridge on a wall (not quite a Pear Tree!)

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Black Tern + Kingfisher @ Slimbridge

Date: 22nd August 2016 

Location: WWT Slimbridge

Weather: Cloudy + Windy

Other Species: Cormorant, Redshank, House Martin, Sand Martin, Barn Swallow, Black-Tailed Godwit, Black Tern, Common Crane, Ruff, Pied Wagtail, Spotted Redshank, Teal, Dunlin, Snipe, Green Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Wigeon, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Greenfinch, Long-Tailed Tit, Kingfisher, Little Egret, Barnacle Goose, Shoveler
51 Species Total

Observation: After some stormy weather and some good sightings from WWT Slimbridge, another visit was in order! We headed straight for South Lake on arrival in the hope of the Black Tern. After a few minutes in it flew, giving us some great views!

A single Common Crane was present to the right of South Lake, along with 2 Spotted Redshank and a very brief visit from a group of 19 Dunlin and a single Curlew Sandpiper! They settled in the far corner on the mud but were spooked by a flock of Greylag Geese arriving.

The Curlew Sandpiper has a mottled red stomach which indicated summer plumage.

A few more shots of the Black Tern who seemed to have been inspired by the Olympics practising it's balancing skills in front the hide before it flew off towards Hogarth Hide.

Next up was Rushy Hide, they were undertaking some work here so pretty quiet, the best from this hide was 2 Snipe, Green Sandpiper and Sand Martin.

We changed it up a bit and visited Holden Tower first as it was high tide, no pictures from here but a fly-past Greater Black-Backed Gull and some feeding Rook and Wigeon and lastly a hunting Kestrel who made a few unsuccessful dives but later landed on the stone hut to shelter from the gusty wind!

Robbie Garnet Hide gave us nice low-levels views of some very muddy Black-Tailed Godwit's and a single Common Sandpiper.

A quick scan in the Willow Hide plenty of young Blue Tit's and Great Tit's and a windswept Chaffinch.

Martin Smith Hide didn't disappoint this visit! A Male Kingfisher was putting on a great display on the perches in front of the Hide. Good work WWT!

After showing off in front of the camera's having some wing stretches, it was back to business. After a change of the perch, it was back catching fish!

Slightly tangled with the extra grass attached to the fish, he untangles it but drops the fish and looks slightly confused!

With not many photo opportunities from the other hides we headed back to South Lake for more unfocused shots of the Black Tern. We did manage a few in focus so here they are:

After some slightly improved images under our belt, we had a last scan in the Rushy just as we left a stunning Sparrowhawk caught our eye.

We had to visit Martin Smith Hide before we headed home. After about 5 minutes the Male Kingfisher returned, initially staying out the back, but did return to it's perches. A few more shots and we left him to it!

Another successful day at Slimbridge and great to see the continued hard work from WWT and Slimbridge is still paying off!

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