Tuesday, 22 August 2023

EGRETS AND A SPOONBILL

 I've not been to Slimbridge for a while so it was nice to pay a return visit in some late summer sunshine.  At the first hide I visited I saw a great white egret, and at the second I had some excellent close views of a spoonbill. The spoonbills I'd seen in Lancashire were  all roosting at a distance but this one was  'spooning' vigorously in the hope of a meal. I also found a rather belated first common sandpiper of the year. 

I walked down the summer walkway to the estuary where a  reserve warden pointed out a black dot in the middle of the Severn estuary which apparently was a common scoter!! 

At the Discovery Hide I was confronted with not one, but eleven cattle egrets, including one splendid looking bird in breeding plumage , something I don't think I've seen before. I also saw one little egret flying which made up the set of three egrets in one day. 

Other birds of note included ruff, spotted redshank, black tailed godwits, a solitary curlew, and green sandpiper.


great white egret

..with grey wagtail

spotted redshank and black tailed godwits





















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