Despite the sunshine forecast, it was a foggy start to my day at Slimbridge. I elected to go first to South Lake for two reasons; firstly it would be difficult to see much in the distance from the hides along the Holden Walkway and secondly I wanted to see if the cattle egrets had roosted there before flying off to the fields later in the morning.
The other bird I was looking for was mediterranean gull which is sometimes seen from this hide so I started to scan the gulls through the fog to see if I could spot it amongst the black headed gulls. A guide was there but she said she couldn't see it and neither could I.
As I continued to scan the lake through the fog, I was able to make out some cattle egrets on a far island. At first I could see only four, but more seemed to appear from behind and there ended up being nine of them in total, plus a little egret. ( They later departed for the fields in Slimbridge village so I was pleased to have seen them)
Another visitor said he had spotted the mediterranean gull, so put me on to it. He pointed out that not only does it have a larger black hood but also no black on the wing tips so was relatively easy to identify.
Eventually the fog started to lift and I could see a flock of avocets and some black tailed godwits.
After watching a pair of oyster catchers from the Hogarth hide and spotting a chiffchiff and a female bullfinch darting out for insects along the ditch, I headed back to the Rushy pen which now seemed very quiet, with the absence of the wintering Bewick swans and ducks.
The skies were now clear and it was turning out to be a very pleasant morning. From the hides along the walkway to the Estuary tower, there was a flock of barnacle geese to be seen together with 3 snow geese. From the Estuary tower itself, there were more barnacle geese, also a large flock of white fronted geese had gathered in the distance ( 200+). A marsh harrier flew past which sent the barnacles up but they soon resettled. More avocets were on an island in the scrape.
I had my picnic lunch on a bench in the grounds, before leaving to go home. I stopped off to see if I could spot the glossy ibis which has been seen regularly in a field near the canal in the village but it was not there. It had apparently visited South lake during the morning but had departed.
Along the hedgerow I spotted a couple of butterflies but they didn't settle, one appeared to be either a small or green veined white and the other more orange in colour, perhaps a comma or small tortoiseshell?
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