Hot weather and work commitments have prevented me from getting out and about as much as I would like, but today was an opportunity to revisit Slimbridge and tick off a few more birds for the year. Being the Air Tattoo weekend I decided to wait until the morning's traffic had quietened down, before setting off just before lunch and consequently my journey was of about the usual duration. The morning's rain and cloud was also clearing, making for a largely sunny and warm afternoon.
My main target species today was a tundra bean goose which had somehow found its way to Slimbridge and could be viewed from the Discovery Hide. I'd never seen this species of goose before so was keen to add it to my list. I headed there first, where I soon found it at the back of the causeway, amongst a flock of greylags and Canada geese; although similar colouring to a greylag goose, its bill is black rather than orange, with a orange band on it. What stood out most for me was its bright orange legs, making it easy to pick out within a flock of standing geese. Also on South lake were numerous black headed gulls, avocets, a flock of black tailed godwits, a white headed ruff and a tufted duck female with duckling. I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon visiting the hides along the estuary walkway, beginning with the Rushy where I immediately added green sandpiper to my year list. I saw 4 of these birds, one fairly close, although there had been quite a few more earlier on. A juvenile little ringed plover was also giving quite close views and a couple of goldfinches kept coming down for a bath in front of the hide.
The remaining hides produced nice views of a grey heron, wading in a much shallower scrape than usual. In fact much of the scrape was dry and the meadow, which is usually under a lot of water in the winter was colourful with wild flowers. The resident black swan and mute swan mate (?) were the only other birds on the water, whilst a few green sandpipers and a further juvenile little ringed plover were feeding on the mud at the edges and I watched a reed warbler feeding its young in the reeds. Four cranes flew over head at one point . A small herd of young cattle came down to drink and amongst them could be seen a few yellow wagtails, although at times it was hard to distinguish them from the pied and grey wagtails also present.
