WWT Slimbridge - August 2014

Almost a year out of date on the blog so apologies if you have seen these pics before. I shall keep words to a minimum and the pics to a premium.

A quiet Sunday with little else planned whilst at Donna's in Cheltenham, so a quick mooch down the M5 to WWT Slimbridge. Not a lot about due to the time of year, but the Bar tailed Godwits were showing particularly well in some bright Summer sunshine. I couldn't resist the Greylags among the bright flowering plants also.

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Slimbridge Collections

During my visit to Slimbridge I had decided on the way that I would try to avoid spending to much time with the collections of exotic wildfowl they have within the grounds. I thought I did a pretty good job but on the odd occasion certain species couldn't be avoided. The highlight of which had to be the drake Hooded Merganser a rather stunning specimen. 

Mandarin Drake

Hooded Merganser Drake

Greater Flamingo

Slightly Tatty Smew Drake

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Gorgeous Goldeneye

The Goldeneye is a duck I am not accustomed to seeing all that often, and definitely not at any close distance. Coming across one of the side pools at Slimbridge, away from the main collections, I am guessing the waterfowl on it are not totally part of the collection nor totally wild, but the opportunity to photograph these rather striking ducks was to good to pass on.

There were a few Females floating around as well, but they don't appear anywhere near as stunning as the Drakes. The iridescent Green/Brown/Black feathers on the head look beautiful when they catch the light. Which I managed to capture in a few shots, several of the birds where in full Winter adult plumage and certainly stand out bolder than the others! Stunning ducks! Captive or not!

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Sunny November Waterfowl

As well as the afore mentioned wildfowl in earlier posts, Slimbridge and its surrounding reserve where abundant in a few other Wildfowl species. 5 or 6 Shelduck joined the masses of Wigeon on the tack piece. Along with 40-50 Greylag Geese, all very vocal as Sparrowhawks and Buzzards regularly flew past.

Shelduck

Shelduck

Shelduck

Greylag

Greylag

In smaller numbers, several Grey Heron stood sentry duty on the edges of flooded outcrops, Dead still in the bright morning sun. Tufted Duck & Pochard drifted close to the hides allowing the occasional close up photograph, along with a rather tatty looking drake Shoveler.

Grey Heron

Tufted Duck

Drake Pochard

Drake Pochard

Drake Shoveler

From the Holden Tower various species could be seen on the flooded shores of the River Severn, 70 strong flocks of Dunlin fed on the flooded grassland along with Canada Geese intermixed with a lone European White-fronted Goose. A small flock of Barnacle Geese also fed along the shoreline. A much closer Barny fed inside the Slimbridge grounds, enable a photo of these chunky geese.

Barnacle Goose

Barnacle Goose

Barnacle Goose

After a quick spot of lunch, we headed around to the Zeiss hide, stopping only briefly as there were dozens of screaming kids running through the hide! Much to my annoyance, a good hour or more was spent in the Van Der Bovenkamp hide, as supposedly a Bittern was in the tiny block of reed in front of it. Its fair to say no Bittern was spotted by me, much to my annoyance. Occasionally the huge mass of Golden Plover would take flight before settling back down to feed.

Golden Plover

To finish the trip off, we thought we would go for the pair! Having managed some stunning views of the Short-billed Dowitcher down at Lodmoor in September, I thought I would get a spot on the long staying Long-billed Dowitcher that had been at Slimbridge for a good few months.

The bird was present out on the South Lake along with 50 or so Black-tailed Godwits, but with the sun dipping rapidly the whole scene was just a lot of shadowy birds so no pictures unfortunately, but good to get the set in the bag, and round off a pretty good day!

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Willow Hide Blue Tits

Stunning Blue Tit

I spent some time in the new Willow Hide at Slimbridge, situated really close to the feeding stations, a little to close if im honest, the birds are really skittish of any movement in the hide. A lovely collection of 'Garden' birds visited in a constant stream. Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Chaffinch, House Sparrow, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and even a rather quick Lesser Redpoll.

The light was beautiful, highlighting the last of the autumnal colours in the bushes behind the birds, so I made the most of photographing some rather photogenic Blue Tits.

Cock Chaffinch

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Bugling Bewick's

I guess it could be said that the Bewick's Swan is really Slimbridge's speciality, the wetland reserve gives a great opportunity to see these majestic wandering Tundra Swans very close up, an opportunity that you probably wouldn't get elsewhere in the Wilds of the UK.

When we were at Slimbridge during the middle of November there were only 13 Bewick's arrivals, the early visitors from there near Arctic breeding grounds. Having just looked on the Slimbridge sightings for yesterday there are now a mere 140 Bewick's arrivals.

The conditions were pretty much perfect which helped beautifully contrast the snowy white of the swan against the deep blue of the water. So a quite enjoyable day was had!

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Perfect Pintail

A fortnight or so ago, I had a spare Sunday, and Sister in tow I decided on a winter visit to Slimbridge. With a dry day forecast we awoke to a crisp clear morning, a quick defrost of the car and on our way. The 80 or so miles to Gloucestershire. Arriving just after 9.30am we headed straight for the Rushy, I was hoping for some nice photographs, so with the Sun behind the hides we decided to go the opposite direction of the publicised route. 

I am glad we did as stepping into the Rushy Hide, the water and birds positively glowed in the early morning light. The water as still as a lilly pond and a deep blue colour, one that brilliant reflected the many ducks that swam and preened on it.

The stars of the show for me on this visit, were the first birds I encountered. The Rushy was holding a lot of freshly arrived wintering Pintail, around a hundred or so milled around on the still water or adjoined muddy edges. Its only really in this gorgeous early morning winter sunlight that I realised what a truly gorgeous Duck the Pintail is, in my eyes its sleek form oozes sophistication and Elegance, and although muted Browns and Greys a very Eye catching species right down to the point of its namesake the Pinned tail feathers.

I shall leave you with a selection of Pintail shots from this encounter, and here is to hoping they find their way to an area of water local to me throughout the winter.

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