Slimbridge WWT Reserve 2nd April 2023

On a trip to the south of England to visit friends, we managed to get a couple of days with some birding. We drove down on the 1st April but we got stuck on the motorway almost as soon as we started. With the car parked and the engine off for three hours, we didn’t make it to Slimbridge that afternoon but we did get there for a few hours the following day and managed to get some good year-ticks in.

The main attraction of the day was a flock of 190 (someone counted them) Russian White-fronted Geese – a sub-species I hadn’t seen before. In the same field there was a single Snow Goose and some Barnacle Geese. From a hide hear the same field we saw an American Green-winged Teal in one of the gullies. There were also some of the more usual Common Teal and other duck species. The Kingfisher hide did not disappoint with a pair of Kingfishers showing well and, while we were there, they perched on a stick near the sandbank for a long time.

Another year first was a landing of swallows in one of the trees at the back of the South Lake. They joined in the flock of Sand Martins that were already swooping around over the water.

Unfortunately, we did not see any Crakes – perhaps a little early in the year – but still, we had a good morning before we had to drive on to Bristol.

Bird Sightings : WWT Slimbridge 2nd April 2023

Species	No
Avocet	40
Barnacle Goose	3
Black-headed Gull	20
Black-tailed Godwit	70
Blackbird	4
Canada Goose	20
Carrion Crow	10
Chiffchaff	2
Collared Dove	3
Coot	10
Cormorant	11
Curlew	20
Gadwall	4
Goldfinch	5
Green-winged Teal	1
Greylag Goose	10
House Sparrow	10
Jackdaw	10
Kingfisher	2
Lapwing	6
Little Egret	1
Magpie	2
Mallard	30
Moorhen	4
Mute Swan	20
Pied Wagtail	3
Redshank	5
Rock Dove / Feral Pigeon	4
Rock Dove / Feral Pigeon	4
Rook	40
Sand Martin	30
Shelduck	10
Shoveler	30
Snow Goose	1
Swallow	30
Teal	10
Tufted Duck	20
White-fronted Goose	190
Wigeon	30
Woodpigeon	4