WWT Slimbridge 30th August 2016

WWT Slimbridge 30th August 2016

We arrived from Shapwick Heath at Slimbridge about ten minutes to two o’clock and we rushed to the reception to see if they were running a Range Rover tour of the site. We had tried twice before on this holiday but wet ground had meant that the trailey they mount behind the Land Rover to carry the passengers was getting bogged down. To our great surprise we got there just in time to get the last two seats for the day. We rushed down a quick sandwich and after a bit a member of staff and a volunteer came to pick us up.

We started out driving through the car park, then the overflow car park, past the breeding pens and left up through the reserve towards the sea wall. We stopped at the old brid shooting hides where the staff member told us about the plan to turn these buildings into a hstorical attraction from the days when birds were shot not protected. Looking back we could see a pair of Cranes and looking along the sea wall to the old pier we could see a couple of Kestrels hovering, diving and generally “playing” in the wind just above the pier. They continued this until we were nearly on top of them, when the flew off but were still in sight hovering around. As we got to the pier we stopped and got out to have a look arouns and a Hobby started to show quite well for several minutes.

Looking over the Severn, there was not an awful lot to see except a few Shelduck and some Little Egrets but we came back around the far side of the fields and turned right to run alongside the reed bed. Here, amongst the various pools, we saw Grey Heron, Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Teal and Mallard. There was also a Common Tern flying above.

Every so often the warden would stop and give us a little bit of a talk about various aspects of the site which were all very interesting. When we reached the end of the reed bed we turned right again and in the same field we again saw the Cranes, though they had moved to the other side of the field from us. They were both honkling quite loudly and sound echoed over the Severn making a very haunting sound. This brought us back around to the car park by about 1pm.

We had a quick cup of tea and then headed off to the Rushy Pen where I got a Green Sandpiper and a Common Sandpiper and then we went to the South Lake Hide where we found the usual Black-tailed Godwits and Geese and Ducks but nothing particularly new. This rounded off our trip to Slimbridge and we headed back to The Tudor Arms for a drink, a clean up and then dinner.

Bird Sightings : WWT Slimbridge