Heather's Nature Notes: A GLOSSY IBIS AND OTHER BIRDS

Yes, today I was back at Slimbridge WWT , as I had been reading about the arrival of a glossy ibis, an occasional visitor to the centre, which had been showing well in the field on the right hand side just before the car park. My sighting of this species last year had amounted to a distant view of three birds at Ham Wall rspb in Somerset, although I have had close views in previous years at Slimbridge

As I approached the centre, I noticed a couple of people standing at the gate to the field where the ibis had been previously seen, so instead of parking close to the visitor centre straightaway I stopped near the exit and walked the few yards out to the roadside gate. There were a good number of greylags and a few crows on the grass fairly close to the gate and at first I didn't spot the ibis, somehow I was expecting a taller bird, but someone next to me pointed it out about 50 feet away, preening in the morning sunshine. I waited for it to stop preening after which it started walking fairly quickly towards the gate! It stopped only 20 feet away which gave me the opportunity to see it really well and take a few photos. A good start to the day!

Once inside the WWT grounds, l popped inside a building called the Peng Observatory where you can watch the swans through large windows seated on padded chairs and out of the cold! There were still plenty of Bewicks on the ponds here, and a gentlemen started to inform me about a particular bird 'Winkie' who was just in front of the window. I learnt he was the oldest swan to return and was about 27 years old, though his mate had not come back so far this winter.

I left the warmth of the building and made for the Rushy Hide, just in time to see the black swan fly off over the hedge, its white wing tips standing out from its black plumage. That particular swan appears to have been attracted to one of the mute swans, and I saw it again following it later on. A bit later on in the morning, I happened to have my camera ready as I heard some swan wingflaps and into view came the mute followed by the black swan, landing on the water in front of the hide.

The water rail was showing well at the willow hide, appearing for several minutes at a time before retiring to the reeds.

On the river Severn, the tide was receding and there were plenty of geese etc to be seen from the top of the Estuary hide. I also saw a little stint which was my first this year.

The other 'target bird' for today's visit was white fronted geese, which I'd missed on both my visits earlier this month. I'd seen that they'd been reported at the opposite end of the reserve so walked in that direction, calling in at the Discovery hide on the way. However, the sun was shining towards the windows, and I was unable to make out if any of the gulls were common gulls as I could only see sillouettes in the brightness.

From the Van de Bovencamp hide, I could see some geese in the field, mostly greylags but also two white fronted geese amongst them. There had been 88 reported earlier from the Zeiss hide but I was told they had flown off. However, they must have returned as when I checked the sightings list they were seen again on the water but I didn't have time to go back.

As the Kingfisher hide was only a little further on, I also went in to see if anything unusual could be seen. The bird feeders generate quite a bit of interest as you can sit only a few metres from them and watch common garden birds such as blue, great and coal tits come back and forth to the feeders. I went over to have a look, and as I did so, a siskin flew on to the sunflower heart feeder - a bird I don't normally see here and another first for the year.

Total bird species for January - 96