I hadn't any particular focus for my visit to Slimbridge this morning - the weather was forecast cloudy so was unsuitable for butterfly spotting, so I had decided to enjoy a morning bird watching at the WWT centre. Besides, you never know what might turn up.
I arrived just after opening time, and after having showed my membership card at the admissions desk, made my way to the hide which over looks 'The Rushy'. There was a lot of activity, mainly due to the large numbers of broods of young. Shelducks, tufted ducks, mallards all had varying sized broods of ducklings, whilst avocets had some quite small chicks, already fending for themselves in the shallow water sweeping their small bills from side to side, just like their parents. Black headed gulls had youngsters on the islands, and a pair of oyster catchers were busy searching for grubs to feed to their chicks. Mute swans and Canada geese were being followed around by their half grown cygnets and goslings respectively.
After spending some time watching and photographing the birds, I started to walk along the Holden walkway which leads to the estuary tower and summer walkway. Approaching me was a group of wardens, who after greeting me, informed me that a Wood sandpiper, less common than the common and green sandpipers, had just been found at the nearest hide.
I entered where I found a couple of birders who pointed out the Wood sandpiper, feeding close to a green sandpiper on the opposite bank. It was making its way fairly quickly along the shore line, away from the hide, and was too far for photographs although it could be seen through binoculars reasonably well, once you had managed to locate it as it was quite camouflaged against the mud. Next to the green sandpiper, its smaller size is apparent, with its white eye stripe.
I watched for a while, then, as it seemed to going further and further away, decided to try the next hide, where I was informed, there had been some little ringed plovers, a species I hadn't yet managed to see this year. Here again, I didn't spot them straightaway, but searching along the shore line with my binoculars managed to find two of them, apparently there had been five earlier. I decided to return to the hide I had been in earlier, to see if the Wood Sandpiper had come any nearer, and was pleased to find that it had returned and was now directly on the bank opposite the hide, still fairly distant but easier to see. It continued to move along the shoreline, passing a couple of green sandpipers along the way and as it passed out of sight I moved back to the next hide where viewing was better.
As the morning progressed the weather had brightened considerably and the clouds were broken in places to reveal some pleasant sunshine. Instead of continuing to to the Estuary tower, I decided to return to the Rushy Pen, where this time, I saw a common sandpiper which gave some nice views. A herring gull appeared from nowhere and made a dive for a couple moorhen chicks which were close in front of the hide, but was swiftly driven off by a flock of avocets, and thankfully didn't get its meal. It perched on a nearby roof occasionally flying down but repeatedly chased off by the vocal avocets and then disappeared over a hedge, unsuccessful at least this time.
With time passing quickly, I made a brief visit to the Discovery hide before heading home, there were few young birds here, apparently the herring gulls had had many of them, including seven goslings belonging to an Egyptian goose. However there were still flocks of black headed gulls and black tailed godwits.
So today I had been 'at the right place at the right time' and was able to add two more species to my year list.
