It was a sunny but fairly chilly morning at Slimbridge WWT Centre today. I'd heard that little ringed plovers had started to arrive and could be found at various points around the reserve; also a second glossy ibis had been seen yesterday.
From the Rushy Hide I soon found the little ringed plover, running to and fro on the gravelled areas where it was well camouflaged. Last year a pair nested here and successfully reared one chick.
The white fronts seen on my last visit had departed, but there were still a couple of pintails and some wigeon in addition to the usual regular duck species.
From the Discovery hide I watched a small flock of goldfinches pulling at the seed heads of some plants just in front of the hide as well as avocets and black tailed godwits.
I saw one of the kingfishers outside its nest hole in the bank from the appropriately names Kingfisher hide, then as I passed the other hide along the walkway, a Slimbridge guide who was leaving , called me and told me that a glossy ibis could be seen in front of the hide. Very pleased to hear this, I found a place in front of the window, which was actually letting in quite a chilly northerly breeze and the focussed my camera on the ibis which was some 50 to 100 metres away but nevertheless was easily to identify. Most of the time the bird preferred to feed amongst the longer grass but occasionally ventured out into the shorter grass where it gave better views.
In the sheltered walkway, I also found an orange tip butterfly and my first green veined white (7) of the year.
little ringed plover
avocet
goldfinches
glossy ibis
green veined white
orange tip
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