Slimbridge landrover safaris run weekends until the end of September, so with a warm sunny day forecast I drove over to Slimbridge and booked the 1130 am trip. These safaris consist of an hour and half trip (or longer) to the parts of the reserve not normally seen and give the observer a chance to see additional birds on the estuary.
Having arrived at 930 am, I had almost two hours to enjoy the birds from the hides so I made for the Rushy Hide. Not a lot was going on, although I was shown a couple of snipe through someones scope and found a single wigeon on the far bank, in addition to the usual ducks, geese, gulls and lapwings present.
In the hedges along the walkway were chiffchaffs (one singing) and long tailed tits, and from one of the hides, two birders were trying to decide whether the bird we could see was a willow warbler.
From another hide a couple pointed out the cranes in the distance before I showed them a couple of snipe close in front of the hide which they had missed!
I paid a short visit to the South Lake hide before heading back to fetch my jacket ready to head off on the Landrover safari. I've been on this trip before, and although I didn't expect to see anything exceptional, it's an enjoyable ride and nice to talk to other visitors with similar interests.
We headed out on the bumpy track leading to the sea wall, stopping to spot warblers in the hedges, and then getting off to investigate the newly restored Goose Hut once used by the Berkley Family.
Back on the landrover, we were treated to views of wheatears on the track in front of us, as we drove along the sea wall, and watched a hobby and a couple of kestrels hunting. On the estuary were several herons and shelducks (distant).
After driving between the reedbeds, we disembarked once more and investigated what lay under some corrugated iron sheets. The first one held a pair of grass snakes which slithered away before I could get my camera ready. Another had a shed snakeskin.
We also watched migrant hawker dragonflies and ruddy darter damselflies.
After an hour and a half's trip we were back at the visitor centre where I immediately headed off to visit the recently opened Scott House. Previously the home of the founder Sir Peter Scott, tours are free but usually have to be booked. However today, was a heritage day and the museum was open for anyone to drop in, with guides in each of the four rooms. Incidently today would have been SIr Peter Scott's 110th birthday! Surprisingly there were only few visitors when I went in, and I had a personal talk from each of the guides!
With no time to revisit the remainder of the centre, I totted up the number of birds I had seen.. a very respectable 43 species!
The birds I saw today were:
goldfinch, starling, blue tit, great tit, long tailed tit,dunnock, house sparrow, jackdaw, magpie, pied wagtail, wood pigeon, collared dove, chiffchaff, robin, willow warbler, heron, lapwing, black tailed godwit, cormorant, ruff, little ringed plover, teal, mallard, shelduck, tufted duck, gadwall, wigeon, swan, greylag, Canada goose, coot, moorhen, buzzard, hobby, kestrel, wheatear, crane, snipe, blackbird, black headed gull lesser black backed gull, heriring gull, pheasant, meadow pipit.
migrant hawker
small tortoiseshell
painted lady
long tailed tit
ruff on South lake
snipe
robins pincushion.. I'd never heard of this but it contains larvae of a gall wasp seen on Dog roses in autumn when it reddens.
lapwing on the Rushy Pen
snake skin
ruddy darter
view of the new Estuary hide, due for completion in October
cattle grazing by the Severn estuary
No comments:
Post a Comment