A much-awaited trip to this iconic reserve, either the first visit or first for years for most of us. The weather forecast was a bit dodgy but conditions were actually OK when we arrived, although it was windy which meant a lot of small birds were staying out of sight. Even so the group managed over 75 species for the day.
As we arrived everyone was primed to look for a Glossy Ibis and 3 Cattle Egret that were apparently feeding in fields outside the reserve, and plenty of folk scooted off to see the Ibis during the day, although the Egrets were a bit elusive.
Highlights for me during the day were predictable really, the Bewick's Swans, Cranes and White-fronted Geese. The Geese were particularly great to watch, a big flock of 100 or more was on Tack Piece and then joined by 3 Snow Geese on the riverbank meadows at one point, as well as 2 Pink-footed Geese. We managed to pick out 2 Greenland race birds from the majority of European/Russians. A Peregrine sat out on the riverbank surveying the scene and we also had Merlin and Sparrowhawk eyeing up dinner.
The thing that stood out was the abundance of birds on the meadows and water, with swirling flocks of hundreds of Lapwings and Golden Plovers and dozens of winter ducks, with Wigeon also in the hundreds, and a busy flock of Dunlin and Ruff. Other things you'd expect such as Kingfisher and Water Rail were also spotted by some members. Overall a great place to visit, with lots of habitats, hides everywhere and tons of birds!
It was a happy group that got back on the coach at 4 to head home, and to cap things off we drove past one of the Cattle Egrets showing well on the way out, for one final good bird on the day.
Sunday 23rd April Early morning visit that proved to be part of a successful day all round both birding and football wise, and in glorious hot sunshine too!
- Black-winged Stilts 3 ...2m/1f (Lifer) One of the most elegant and unusual birds I've ever seen. Only 2 at first, distant from Robbie Garnett hide, but they suddenly flew and landed approx 20ft from the hide. Then the 3rd one flew in and photo-bombed one of my shots. So all 3 were infront of the hide, awesome birds. There was a debate in the hide between some birders as to which was the female and it was suggested they don't have any black on the head, but I gently stepped in and pointed out that the literature suggests that this isn't an indication of gender and females have been noted with blacker heads. I said the depth of black on the mantle would be a safer option.
Also of note... - Common Crane 7 at least inc 1 riding thermals off the reserve - Bearded Tit 2 flew infront of Martin Smith hide. - Mediterranean Gull 1 over South Lake (possibly 2cy??) - Avocet - Black-tailed Godwit - Ruff - Oystercatcher - Tree Sparrow 1 near car park
Plenty of Warblers around too including... - Cetti's Warbler at Robbie Garnett hide - Reed and Sedge Warbler at Martin Smith hide - Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler heard all around - Blackcap heard too
One birder heard and then saw a Cuckoo but I didn't hear or see any myself.
after a great start to the day thought I would try my luck here as I have never been here before & glad I came. a great reserve with tons of birds around.
112 white-fronted geese, majority greenlands, 200+ barnacle geese, 200+ bewick swans which was great to see, no whooper swans seen.
8 crane, nice to see them flying around also. 2 scaup, 1 little stint, 1 little egret, 2 cettis warbler (1 seen when it popped up into my binocular view as I was watching a bullfinch, another heard).
hundreds of dunlin & black tailed godwit. thousands of lapwing & golden plover. ruff, redshank, curlew & lots of ducks around inc teal, wigeon, pochard, tufted duck, shoveler & gadwall. water rail heard.
a fantastic day out
It looks like I have made a mistake & mentioned "majority greenlands" when they were clearly European. It doesn't affect my listing anyway.
A follow-on visit to Slimbridge after Horsebere Brook with Simon and Chris. I've not been here in over 30 years.
Some excellent species seen, some in high numbers too. My apologies but I will try my best to give an approx figure where I can.
- Common Crane 9 (at least) seen from the main reception observation tower at one time. (3 near the poly tunnels, 2 in next field, 2 more in field behind, and 2 on the reserve, a couple of singles were seen too but could've been 1 of the multiples we saw)
- Whooper Swan 2 only - Bewick's Swan approx 130+ - Mute Swans - European White-fronted Goose approx 100-120 - Greenland White-fronted Goose 5 only still - Barnacle Goose approx 200 - lots of Greylag's and Canada Geese - Shelduck lots - Greater Scaup 2 female - Pochard 100+ - Ferruginous / Pochard hybrid 1 (Lifer for me) - Wigeon 100's - Teal 100's - Pintail few 100 - Mallard 100's - Shoveler approx 50+ - Gadwall 30-40 - Shoveler approx 80-100 - Tufted Duck few 100 - Curlew 250-300 - Black-tailed Godwits - Redshank 40-50 - Golden Plover 1000's - Lapwing 1000's - Dunlin few 100 - Peregrine 1 - Common Buzzard 3 - Raven 2 - lots of Rook + Jackdaw - Little Egret 1 - Grey Heron 2 - Great Crested Grebe 1 - Little Grebe 1 - Cornorant 1 - Mediterranean Gull 1 over with Black-headeds (heard calling at first) - Redwing approx 10 over reception - Siskin, group of 30-40 - Goldfinch, group of 20-30 - Reed Bunting 1m - Great Tit, 1 of which was calling a Reed Bunting call, fooled everyone - Coal Tit 1 near entrance road bridge - Long-tailed Tit family - Treecreeper 1 - Goldcrest 1 - Cetti's Warbler 2 heard only - Water Rail heard only for me, seen by others
after a great start to the day thought I would try my luck here as I have never been here before & glad I came. a great reserve with tons of birds around.
112 white-fronted geese, majority greenlands, 200+ barnacle geese, 200+ bewick swans which was great to see, no whooper swans seen.
8 crane, nice to see them flying around also. 2 scaup, 1 little stint, 1 little egret, 2 cettis warbler (1 seen when it popped up into my binocular view as I was watching a bullfinch, another heard).
hundreds of dunlin & black tailed godwit. thousands of lapwing & golden plover. ruff, redshank, curlew & lots of ducks around inc teal, wigeon, pochard, tufted duck, shoveler & gadwall. water rail heard.
A very quick visit here and straight to the hides overlooking Tack Piece produced 3 Crane, 2 Greenland White-fronted Geese, a single Pinkfoot, and a Peregrine amongst the expected fare.
