WWT Slimbridge

WWT Slimbridge - 12th March

It's been a long time coming but I finally made it to Slimbridge. A much talked about reserve in the birding world! I'd spent a few days keeping my eye on the sightings twitter to catch up with what was still around. Most of the Benwick's had gone which is a shame. Slimbridge has captive birds and otters too, I'm a big otter fan and seeing the captive ducks and geese up close was great! Most weren't native species but some were, they had some captive avocets, redshank and shelduck. Photographing them felt a little like cheating. All the photos below are of wild birds, the black swan above isn't one of Slimbridge's captive swans, it recently appeared, unringed!

We spent a lot of time around south lake where lots of avocets had already arrived. The black-tailed godwits were also gathering, likely getting ready to move to summer grounds. A few snipe were hiding around the edges and a ruff popped up every so often. We didn't find many notable species on the west of the reserve, although a very noisy rookery provided entertainment. Walking through the middle of the centre we spotted a cetti's very briefly. Pure luck but no chance of a photo! It was my first cetti's but I really wanted to find the cranes and white-fronted geese. We had success in the hides on the east, where lots of white-fronts were gathering. There was also four cranes, one of which was displaying. Looking over the estuary we also spotted a large group of barnacle goose.

Four firsts for me: cetti's, cranes, white-fronted and barnacle geese!

On the way out we spotted the handful of Benwick's still around in a field by the entrance, another first! A fab place for birding and we'll be heading back in the summer!