Slimbridge
What an absolutely glorious day it has been! Crystal clear blue skies, complete lack of wind, and temperatures just above freezing. What more could you ask for in winter? To celebrate the new year mum and I decided to go to Slimbridge for the day and see the bewick swans that were there in large numbers.
There were a surprisingly large number of people around; I think the good weather had brought people outside. As I'm in the UK for the next year (or so!) we decided it would make sense to become members. So we did. I later found out that there's a reserve not far from where I live in London so I'll be visiting as soon as I get the time.
We headed first to the 'Back from the Brink' enclosure, which wasn't quite ready when I was last there in the summer. It's now fully functioning, with a beaver damn, otters (North America, I was surprised to find out, rather than European), and cranes. This is a common crane (I think):
We then headed towards the hides looking out towards the Severn where I was hoping we'd see the birds I'd come in search of - bewick swans. It has been a bumper year for them and I really wanted to see them. Yet even though we went in every hide I saw nothing except geese, and they were mainly the ridiculously common Canadian geese from what I could tell. I was a bit disappointed. We ended up at the kingfisher hide where we could sit and watch birds visiting feeders. It was really nice to sit there watching the birds. We saw a pheasant, a grey squirrel (why isn't it hibernating - do they not bother any more, I've seen so many around this winter), and heard a woodpecker pecking closeby. But the best bit was seeing a rook (I think, I'm pretty bad at telling rooks and crows apart) trying to get food from one of the feeders:
Most of the ponds were partly, or even fully, frozen over, which led to some pretty funny sights of birds tentatively walking over the ice and this swan which we think was trying to take off but couldn't run and ended up sitting down in a huff!:
We walked around most of the reserve and nearly got back to the main building when I saw a sign for another set of hides. I'd rarely been down this part of the reserve as we'd normally be too tired by this point, having spent so much time in the other parts. We took a walk down. We went into the first hide and I saw some white shapes a field or so away. One was walking around. I got out my binoculars to take a closer look. They were definitely swans but what species. I looked at the one walking, focused on the beak and . . . damn! red. It's a mute. I was quite disappointed - where were all these bewicks that were supposedly around in huge numbers. I decided to look at the other birds, for completeness rather than anything else. . . . Hold on, those beaks are yellow! I took a photo, zoomed in then went to the identification board. Yellow beak is definitely present and the pattern is consistent - it's a bewick! At last!! I took some photos and we moved on. The other hides weren't as good for seeing the bewicks, being further away, but we found another feeding station and I saw long-tailed tits, greenfinches and a wren which was nice.
On our way back to the main building we found another hide. Incredibly this hide was right next to the bewicks and I finally got some decent shots:
We we finally able to leave, but I wasn't finished yet! The fields beside the road leading to the reserve from the canal had lapwings in them and I wanted to try and get some photos. So mum drove to the bridge while I walked. I got a couple of decent photos and a couple of nice shots of the sun going down:
We drove home, stopping only for tea and cake (!) at a garden centre we like. It was a perfect end to a perfect day.
P.S. I couldn't find a way to fit them into the text, but these are a couple of photos I like that I wanted to post regardless:
There were a surprisingly large number of people around; I think the good weather had brought people outside. As I'm in the UK for the next year (or so!) we decided it would make sense to become members. So we did. I later found out that there's a reserve not far from where I live in London so I'll be visiting as soon as I get the time.
We headed first to the 'Back from the Brink' enclosure, which wasn't quite ready when I was last there in the summer. It's now fully functioning, with a beaver damn, otters (North America, I was surprised to find out, rather than European), and cranes. This is a common crane (I think):
We then headed towards the hides looking out towards the Severn where I was hoping we'd see the birds I'd come in search of - bewick swans. It has been a bumper year for them and I really wanted to see them. Yet even though we went in every hide I saw nothing except geese, and they were mainly the ridiculously common Canadian geese from what I could tell. I was a bit disappointed. We ended up at the kingfisher hide where we could sit and watch birds visiting feeders. It was really nice to sit there watching the birds. We saw a pheasant, a grey squirrel (why isn't it hibernating - do they not bother any more, I've seen so many around this winter), and heard a woodpecker pecking closeby. But the best bit was seeing a rook (I think, I'm pretty bad at telling rooks and crows apart) trying to get food from one of the feeders:
Most of the ponds were partly, or even fully, frozen over, which led to some pretty funny sights of birds tentatively walking over the ice and this swan which we think was trying to take off but couldn't run and ended up sitting down in a huff!:
We walked around most of the reserve and nearly got back to the main building when I saw a sign for another set of hides. I'd rarely been down this part of the reserve as we'd normally be too tired by this point, having spent so much time in the other parts. We took a walk down. We went into the first hide and I saw some white shapes a field or so away. One was walking around. I got out my binoculars to take a closer look. They were definitely swans but what species. I looked at the one walking, focused on the beak and . . . damn! red. It's a mute. I was quite disappointed - where were all these bewicks that were supposedly around in huge numbers. I decided to look at the other birds, for completeness rather than anything else. . . . Hold on, those beaks are yellow! I took a photo, zoomed in then went to the identification board. Yellow beak is definitely present and the pattern is consistent - it's a bewick! At last!! I took some photos and we moved on. The other hides weren't as good for seeing the bewicks, being further away, but we found another feeding station and I saw long-tailed tits, greenfinches and a wren which was nice.On our way back to the main building we found another hide. Incredibly this hide was right next to the bewicks and I finally got some decent shots:
We we finally able to leave, but I wasn't finished yet! The fields beside the road leading to the reserve from the canal had lapwings in them and I wanted to try and get some photos. So mum drove to the bridge while I walked. I got a couple of decent photos and a couple of nice shots of the sun going down:
We drove home, stopping only for tea and cake (!) at a garden centre we like. It was a perfect end to a perfect day.P.S. I couldn't find a way to fit them into the text, but these are a couple of photos I like that I wanted to post regardless:
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