Thursday 8th May 2025 - WWT Slimbridge

 

Goslings (Greylag) - Slimbridge (Bath Birdwatcher)

Today Yvonne,  Bryan, Mary and Tony visited WWT Slimbridge the 1st time Bryan has undertaken an all-day bird spot. We did split the day down in sections with coffee on arrival, lunch at the Tudor Arms and afternoon tea before leaving. The only bird worth recording on the drive to Slimbridge was a Kestrel hovering besides the motorway ( we went via the motorway as it was Badminton Horse Trials and thought it would be busy) Driving through the village of Slimbridge Bryan spotted a Red Kite , luckily I was able to see it out of the back window. From the Car park we noted flyover Swifts  and House Martins with Rooks in a tree, walking to the reception a Collared Dove was on the roof. We sat in the window in the café watching a Shelduck in the pond outside. 

Shelduck - Slimbridge (Bath Birdwatcher)

Woodpigeon and noisy Greylag Geese flew past, and a Moorhen and Jackdaw were enjoying seed that had been thrown down by visitors. After coffee we headed for the Peng Observatory on the way a single Avocet flew over, the 1st of many we saw during the visit and a Mallard was in a pond and Swallows were hawking insects and a few House Sparrows were in a bush. From Peng we added Mute Swan, Coot, Canada Goose and a Black Swan that was here on a previous visit. 

Black Swan - Slimbridge (Bath Birdwatcher)

Also seen were Tufted Duck, Black Headed Gull, and a male Gadwall. 

Gadwall - Slimbridge (Bath Birdwatcher)

Next Stop Martin Smith hide here we added Shoveler, Grey Heron and Pied Wagtail. A male Bluethroat has returned here for the 5th year it’s not a British breeder but a beautiful bird so while here we decided to walk to Middle Point in the hope that it showed on the way adding Chiffchaff, Reed Warbler and a fly by Oystercatcher but unfortunately the Bluethroat remained well hidden. It was a bit windy which may be the reason it stayed hidden. We had booked lunch for 12.30 and as it was almost 12am we had to make a move, on the way back to the car park we added Skylark, Great Black Back Gull, 4 Cranes, Great Tit and Song Thrush. After lunch we were waiting for the girls in the pub car park watching many House Sparrows and a Carrion Crow. Back at Slimbridge we headed for South Lake and on the way we found a single Barnacle Goose a Magpie. A pair of Greylag Geese had 10 goslings in tow. 

Greylag Goose - Slimbridge (Bath Birdwatcher)

As we approached South Lake we heard and saw Long Tailed Tits and also the call of a Bullfinch which eventually showed itself by flying away. Inside the 1st sighting was a very special one a Mediterranean Gull. 

Mediterranean Gull - Slimbridge (Bath Birdwatcher)

Also seen was a single Lapwing, 8 Black Tailed Godwits and lots of Avocets. 

Avocet - Slimbridge (Bath Birdwatcher)

Next Zeiss on the way adding Herring Gull. From Zeiss one of the WWT volunteers pointed out a drake Garganey in fact 2 were seen. A great bird as some years we don’t see any. Also seen was another special bird and one that is becoming more regular a Glossy Ibis, as well as Teal, Redshank, Little Egret and Lesser Black Back Gull. It was now nearing time to leave but a cup of tea was calling so we headed back to the café adding Great Spotted Woodpecker on the way, plus this very photogenic Rook.

Rook - Slimbridge (Bath Birdwatcher)

Driving home a Cattle Egret was in a field of cows and later our last sighting was a soaring Buzzard. We headed home the usual way as traffic reports said the M4, M32 area was very busy but as you might have guessed so was the area around Badminton and what is usual at these times there were 4-way traffic lights with long queues in all directions. I think someone should be held responsible for organising road works at such a busy time.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saturday 11th November 2023 - Newton St Loe.

Image
  NSL Boathouse with the lonely Mute Swan - Bath Birdwatcher When we woke up on Saturday it was such a beautiful day we decided to go for a walk at Newton St Loe as we have not visited since the 26 th of October and we were interested not only in the bird life but the autumn colour’s of the trees. We arrived parking as usual by the church where in the field beyond the church we found our first sightings Magpie, Jackdaw and Rooks all flyover. In the hedgerow opposite the cottages were Blue Tits and Woodpigeons and Long Tailed Tits were in the trees by Ripple Effect. On the footpath were Blackbird and Robin and on reaching Butterfly Alley a Grey Heron was in the trees above the stream, and a Wren flew into the hedge to our right. The lake outlet was a real torrent over the waterfall which was expected due to the amount of rain we have had recently. Waterfall NSL (Bath Birdwatcher)  Up to the bottom lake where 2 Kingfishers were playing chase and I thought I heard a possible 3...
Read more

Tuesday 4th March 2025 - Marshfield

Image
  A bit f a last-minute decision was to go to Marshfield for this week’s birding trip mainly as we could only spare a half day. Parking at the Bath end of Marshfield we set off towards Bond’s Lane spotting Robin, House Sparrow and Goldfinch. Crossing the A420 we set off down the lane where Jackdaw and Woodpigeon flew past and in a field to our left were 2 Ravens feeding on something unknown in the grass, they flew away and a Carrion Crow flew in taking their place. As we continued David spotted movement in a hedge to our right but looking into the sun made it difficult to identify the birds but one flew up into a bush to our right enabling up to identify it as a lovely male Yellowhammer, a year tick.  Yellowhammer - Marshfield (Bath Birdwatcher) A Dunnock flew down onto the side of the road and a flock of Rooks flew past. A Skylark was singing in the sky above us but hard to find against the blue sky but with binoculars I did find it year tick no2. A Blue Tit and a few Linnets...
Read more

Sunday 19th January 2025 - Blagdon Lake

Image
  The first, Bath RSPB’s field trip of the year was a visit to Blagdon lake where Nigel Milbourne the site warden led our group of 14 members. When we arrived having seen a Red Kite on the way we were waiting for others to arrive, so I scanned the lake and found Mallard, Coot, Tufted Duck, Moorhen and Black Headed Gull. As others arrived we all got together, and David introduced us all to Nigel and we set off to walk the length of the dam looking for an overwintering Common Sandpiper but unfortunately it didn’t show but we did find Mute Swan, Cormorant, Common Gull, Great Black Back Gull, Pied Wagtail and Herring Gull. Walking back to the cars we added flyover Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon and Starling plus our 1 st Great Crested Grebe of the day. We then drove inside the confines of the lake where we parked and from here our 1 st new bird of the day was a calling Chaffinch and on the lake in front of us were Teal, Pochard and Gadwall. We also looked at a strange duck which had caused...
Read more