With Covid rules due to be somewhat relaxed from Monday, I thought I'd visit WWT Slimbridge today before people started to ignore the distancing rules.
On the Rushy were a family of tiny shelducks, gorgeous stripy black and white ducklings which were darting about the water watched by their parent. In front of one of the islands I also saw a sleeping wader which at first I couldn't identify. After a while it lifted its head and stood up and its red legs became visible. However it didn't seem quite like a usual redshank so I wondered if it could be a spotted redshank. I asked the other occupant of the hide what he thought and he thought it probably was. I was quite surprised as it was easy to see yet hadn't been mentioned on the Slimbridge sightings on twitter. I decided to take some photos and check its identity once I got back home.
Other birds on the scrape included several avocets, black tailed godwits and a green sandpiper in the distance. I also saw one of the juvenile little ringed plovers that have fledged from a nest earlier in the season.
I spent the rest of the morning visiting the hides which were mostly quite quiet, before paying a visit to the newly opened walk through aviary. The birds in this exhibit included little egrets, avocets, redshanks, spoonbills and garganey which it was nice to see at close quarters. I then decided to wait for a pelican 'talk; at the new wetland theatre seating area - whilst waiting we had the bonus of watching a 'training' session for a grey crowned crane, whereby it was trained to choose the most attractive out of two imitation cranes!
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