Today I joined a dozen members of my local U3A birders group for their annual visit to Slimbridge. Although I left home in sunshine, as I drove along the A417 it began to rain and I wondered if I'd made the right decision to go. However, the clouds cleared a little and the sun broke through giving a beautiful rainbow over the centre as I approached it.
We spent time at the various hides, and over the day, gathered a total of over 60 bird species between us, which was a pretty good total. We generally stayed together as a group which meant that occasionally we filled up a hide, giving the impression that something rare and interesting was present that was attracting a lot of attention! No new birds for me today, but highlights of the visit included a curlew sandpiper, spotted redshank and a peregrine. A few of the wintering wildfowl had begun to return, e.g.. pintail and wigeon and I look forward to the first Bewick swans returning in November. One member of our group walked down to the estuary, but I wasn't aware that he had gone, or I may have joined him as his sightings included grey plovers which would have been a year tick for me.
We managed to get around most of the centre in dry weather, albeit very windy which made the wooden hides creak somewhat. Our last port of call was the Discovery Hide when it rained quite heavily for a while, but of course the birds didn't mind and we spent a while checking out the different waders and gulls with the help of an expert guide. We were also pleased when the little egret that someone noted as we entered the hide, turned out to be a cattle egret!
All in all an enjoyable outing. Apologies for the poor photos but a few from today are shown below.
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