A GLOSSY END TO A MORNING AT SLIMBRIDGE

It was a sunny but fairly chilly morning at Slimbridge WWT Centre today. I'd heard that little ringed plovers had started to arrive and could be found at various points around the reserve; also a second glossy ibis had been seen yesterday. 

From the Rushy Hide I soon found the little ringed plover, running to and fro on the gravelled areas where it was well camouflaged. Last year a pair nested here and successfully reared one chick. 

The white fronts seen on my last visit had departed, but there were still a couple of pintails and some wigeon in addition to the usual regular duck species. 

From the Discovery hide I watched a small flock of goldfinches pulling at the seed heads of some plants just in front of the hide as well as avocets and black tailed godwits. 

I saw one of the kingfishers outside its nest hole in the bank from the appropriately names Kingfisher hide,  then as I passed the other hide along the walkway, a Slimbridge guide who was leaving , called me and told me that a glossy ibis could be seen in front of the hide. Very pleased to hear this,  I found a place in front of the window, which was actually letting in quite a chilly northerly breeze and the focussed my camera on the ibis which was some 50 to 100 metres away but nevertheless was easily to identify. Most of the time  the bird preferred to feed amongst the longer grass but occasionally ventured out into the shorter grass where it  gave better views.

In the sheltered walkway, I also found an orange tip butterfly and my first green veined white (7) of the year.

little ringed plover

avocet

goldfinches

glossy ibis

green veined white

orange tip

SLIMBRIDGE GOOSE FEST

 

On what might be the last warm sunny afternoon for a while, I popped over to Slimbridge WWT . It proved to be a bit of a goose fest with 6 species seen. Along the Holden Walkway the hides gave excellent views of a large flock of white fronts together with a flock of barnacles, the 3 snow geese, 2 pink footed geese and both Canada and greylag geese. I also  saw my first brood of 2 greylag goslings and a orange tip butterfly! 

A couple of male pintails were still around and I saw the male kingfisher outside the nesting bank. Sadly I was unable to find either the spoonbill or the pair of little ringed plovers although they had been seen earlier in the day. I had another look for the glossy ibis on the way out of the Centre but as on the last occasion it had flown off from its usual spot. 

redshank

greylag

white fronts

white fronted goose

Canada geese

pintails and white fronts

snow geese

barnacle geese

barnacle goose

views from the hides

greylag and gosling

snipe

MORE OF THE FARMOOR GARGANEYS

 

I went over to Farmoor again this morning to see if I could get some better views of the pair of Garganeys which are still present  in the Pinkhill reserve. 

There were a couple of people already in the hide with binoculars when I arrived; the garganeys were already showing well on the water, albeit with reeds between them and the hide which meant a clear view was well nigh impossible. The 'white eyebrow' of the drake, made it easy to pick it out through binoculars though. 

As we waited, the garganeys gradually worked their way towards the left, and to our delight came closer and closer to the area in front of the hide. Here they were only within ten metres or so but still hard to photograph with any degree of satisfaction due to the reeds. However, it was a real treat to see them at such close quarters and when they eventually turned and swam away from us, I felt very privileged to have had the opportunity to have watched them, seeing as they are normally  such a  rare and rather secretive duck.

A PAIR OF GARGANEY AT FARMOOR

 

There have been a number of reports of gargeneys at some local birding  sites in Oxfordshire, so I was pleased to read that a pair had been seen yesterday at Farmoor Reservoir which is only 25 minutes from home.  I checked the blog again this morning and I was pleased to see that  that they were still present although had been been heard rather than seen from the Pinkhill hide. 

As a result, I headed there soon after I got home from work. Walking across the causeway  I got chatting to another lady who was  hoping to see them, especially as she'd never seen a drake garganey before. She was laden with a large camera and tripod, binoculars and a second camera. 

We reached the hide, and admittedly I was expecting to find it fairly busy but there was only one gentleman there who hadn't even known about the garganeys! 

At the feeders there were the usual tits and occasional reed bunting but the area of water and reeds in front of the hide appeared empty.  We waited for about 20 minutes, but the only thing of interest was a  Peacock (4) butterfly flying too and fro in front of  the hide occasionally settling on the reeds. (Yesterday I found a tatty Small tortoiseshell (5) in the garden.)

Then I suddenly noticed a couple of small ducks which had appeared on the other side of the water,  and a a quick check through my binoculars confirmed they were the garganey pair we were hoping for. These little  dabbling ducks are summer migrants to the UK, and are  often found amongst reeds - they are fairly secretive so not often seen.

There were quite a few reeds directly in front of the hide which blocked our view somewhat but we we were able to watch them swim about for a few minutes before they retreated once more to the reeds at the back of the pond. For the next three quarters of an hour we only had occasional glimpses of them behind some distant reeds; meanwhile a heron flew down  and then off again after a few minutes.

Eventually however, we spotted them re-emerging from the reeds swimming across in front of us ( though often blocked by reeds)  before deciding to preen themselves in a small patch of grass at the back, mostly out of sight!. 

I decided it was time I went back to the car at this point; across the causeway I came across 4 dunlin at various intervals which were the first I'd seen at Farmoor this year. 

A FOGGY START AT SLIMBRIDGE

 Despite the sunshine forecast, it was a foggy start to my day at Slimbridge. I elected to go first to South Lake for two reasons; firstly it would be difficult to see much  in the distance from the hides along the Holden Walkway and secondly I wanted to see if the cattle egrets had roosted  there before flying off to the fields later in the morning.

The other bird I was looking for was  mediterranean gull which is sometimes seen from this hide so I started to  scan the gulls through the fog to see if I could spot it amongst the black headed gulls. A guide was there but she said she couldn't see it and neither could I. 

 As I  continued to scan the lake through the fog, I was able to make out some cattle egrets on a far island. At first I could see only four, but more seemed to appear from behind and there ended up being nine of them in total, plus a little egret. ( They later departed for the fields in Slimbridge village so I was pleased to have seen them)

Another visitor said he had spotted the mediterranean gull, so put me on to it. He pointed out that not only does it have a larger black hood but also no black on the wing tips so was relatively easy to identify. 

Eventually the fog started to lift and I could see a flock of avocets and some black tailed godwits. 

After watching a pair of oyster catchers from the Hogarth hide and  spotting a chiffchiff  and a female bullfinch  darting out for insects along the ditch,  I headed back to the  Rushy pen which   now seemed very quiet, with the absence of the wintering Bewick swans and ducks.   

The skies were now clear and it was turning out to be a very pleasant morning. From the hides along the walkway to the Estuary tower, there was a flock of barnacle geese to be seen together with 3 snow geese. From the Estuary tower itself, there were more barnacle geese, also a large flock of white fronted geese had gathered in the distance ( 200+). A marsh harrier flew past which sent the barnacles up  but they soon resettled.  More avocets were on an island in the scrape. 

I had my picnic lunch on a bench in the grounds, before leaving to go home. I stopped off to see if I could spot the glossy ibis which has been seen regularly in a field near the canal in the village but it was not there.  It had apparently visited South lake  during the morning but had departed.  

Along the hedgerow I spotted a couple of butterflies but they didn't settle, one appeared to be either a small or green veined white and the other more orange in colour, perhaps a comma or small tortoiseshell?  

snow geese and barnacle geese

barnacle geese

view across the Tack PIece 

daffodils at Slimbridge

avocets

oyster catcher

cattle egrets in the fog

pair of blackheaded gulls