Slimbridge WWT

Me and my brother decided in the end to go to WWT Slimbridge, as we have friends near there so stayed the night and got their pretty much as it opened.

WARNING LOTS OF PHOTOS!

We decided to make it more interesting, by doing a challange, whoever could see (and photograph, as proof you saw it) the most different species of birds would win.

So as soon as we had checked the recent sightings, we parted and went our different ways.

My first target, on seeing recent sightings, was Greater White Fronted Geese - as they would be a lifer for me.

Heading straight out, the feeding pond put me straight up to 8 (please note not all photo's will be brilliant as a lot of them are just record shots to show I saw it!)

1. Shelduck - the closest I had seen one before!

2. Tufted Duck

3. Coot

4. Mallard

5. Greylag Goose

6. Mute Swan

7. Barnacle Goose

8. Moorhen

I could have stayed longer and got better pictures, but it was all about the number of species, not the quality of photographs, so I moved on towards the first hide my list increasing as I went

9. Jackdaw

10. Rook

11. Black-Headed Gull

12. Wood-Pigeon

I had heard Long-Tailed Tits, but hadn't seen or photographed them until 13. Long-Tailed Tit

14. Shoveler

I did want some decent photos, so slowed down a bit to get a photo of a Wood-Pigeon...

...and a moorhen, after finally getting the first hide.

The first hide got me 15. Teal

And 16. Canada Goose

I didn't stick around as I wanted to get the Great White Fronted Geese, but on the way to the next hide I saw 17. Robin

At the next hide there were some feeders, and many 18. House Sparrows

I didn't miss a chance to get a photo of this extremely close Female Teal

On the next hide, which bought me 19. Wigeon

And got to 20 with Redshank

There were 8 in close proximity, the most I've seen in one go before!

Wigeon were plentiful!

Moving on to the hide before the one the Greater White Fronts my list increased by 2

21. Starling and 22. Lapwing

Finally getting the the tower hide (a two story hide)

I got my lifer 23. Greater White Fronted Geese, plus 24. Golden Plover and 25. (Mystery white bird) will add this later so I don't ruin the quiz!

Monday was the last day the summer walkway was open, which was lucky as otherwise I probably would have had a significantly smaller list!

On starting down the walkway I got 26. Skylark

27. Magpie

And a 2 for 1 with 28. Goldfinch and 29. Great Tit

Walking down the extremely muddy path to the estuary got me 30. Meadow Pipit getting me to my original target of 30 species within about an hour and a half!

Then looking over the estuary I got 31. Herring Gull (left) and 32. Common Gull (right)

And 33. Great Black Backed Gull

I glimpsed a flash of white, and on inspection it was 34. Little Egret

And then 35. Carrion Crow

A group of wigeon took off, and I saw a 36. Curlew fly through (remember, just a record shot!)

I suddenly heard a 'fwoooosssh' and looking up saw what had caused the wigeon and curlew to fly (you may have already noticed it at the top of the above photo)

37. Peregrine Falcon

It promptly flew away, but I suddenly noticed some movement on the mud flats below, and realised there were some small waders down there. In this case 38. Ringed Plover this picture being of a juvenile. (I assume)

I finally dragged myself away from the estuary which had gotten me another 8 species!

And on the walk back to the tower hide I got a quick look at 39. Pied/White Wagtail

And got this nice atmospherical shot of a Jackdaw

Back at the tower I met my brother, he was, unfortunately, beating my by about 4, getting the edge with a few passerines, such as the tits, plus a goldcrest and a wren, he also got better shots of the Greater White Fronts, as they had flown off while he was there.

Fortunately I was there to get this shot of two Barnacle Geese as they flew over - probably one of my favourite pictures of the day.

Heading back towards the Zeiss and Kingfisher hides I popped into the feeder hide and finally got 40. Blue Tit

And this moorhen was also nice and close, allowing me to get some fantastic detail

Moving on to some hides further up, I managed to get 41. Pintail my best look and picture of one I've ever got.

Alright, back to the terrible record shots - 42. Grey Heron

And it was about time I got 43. Cormorant

Also got 44. Black Tailed Godwit

Walking past the Feeding Pond again - I caught a Greylag Goose landing - just love this shot with the entire wing showing.

Further on I finally got 45. Wren which nicely popped out into the open for me!

At the next hide I got 46. Yellow Legged Gull or possibly Lesser Black Backed Gull the former would be a lifer for me!

And 47. Pochard

And also 48. Dunlin (Thanks Clare) again another lifer!

Just before getting to the Zeiss Hide this Rook allowed me very close

Unfortunately they were maintaining the area around the Zeiss hide so there was nothing to see there.

I headed back towards the feeding pond to meet up with my brother and have some lunch, on the way grabbing a flyover 49. Grey Wagtail

So I moved on, and met with my brother for lunch and a tally up.

While eating we saw either a Hobby or a Merlin - we aren't sure which, and didn't get a photo - but as we both saw it we allowed it to count which bought me up to 50!

I headed back to the tower hide and the summer walkway, to go down to the estuary again, nothing on the way, but when I got to the muddy path down to the estuary there was the Meadow Pipit again, this time I got a little closer so got a much better photo.

And it was a good thing I went down to the estuary as I got a distant but satisfying glimpse of the 51. Common Cranes!

That was the last new bird I photographed, but I also got a few decent photo's before leaving including

Shelduck

Tufted Duck

And finally finished off with a Pied/White Wagtail from the lookout tower in the main building

It was a fantastic day out with a total list of 53, and a photographed list of 50 species, which was fantastic as normally I would be lucky to get over 30!

Unfortunately my brother won the contest with 58 species! Which gave us a combined total of just over 60 species - not bad for about 4 hours!

Thanks for looking - sorry if it bored you. As I said, there are a LOT of photos!