All About Wildlife - Day trip to WWT Slimbridge

Day trip to WWT Slimbridge

Sunday, 1 February, 2009, 01:31 PM
Posted by Administrator

We're a member of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust here in the UK and spend whatever time we can these days taking trips to either the WWT Wales center in Llanelli or the WWT Slimbridge sites, both being within a reasonable drive from home. However we've also visited the WWT Arundel site as well. These are amazing areas of preservation and conservation, having vast areas with a wide array of wildlife on their premises. For more information on this group go to the WWT Website.

We really had a fantastic time there. There was a huge number of birds taking sanctuary here from the harsh weather that was hitting the UK at this time; freezing temps, high winds, and snow in much of the country. From the hides we were able to see large numbers of wild birds, such as: graylag, whitefronted geese, canada geese, shovelers, pintails, gadwalls, teals, wigeon, mallards, redshank, little grebe, and dunlin.

But the stars of the visit had to be the Tundra Bean Geese that were visible from the hides, which unfortunately we were unable to get a capture of due to the distance and poor lighting involved. Also a few first for us including the Water Rail and the Glaucous Gull. Unlike the photographers waiting for the bird to take flight, we were happy enough to see the bird and take a photo where he was sitting. We missed the Icelandic Gull which flew over this bird later on.


Water Rail	Glaucous Gull 1st Winter

While out amongst the hides, we came across a feeding station set behind some concrete slab walls, with some viewpoints along the wall. Really a great set-up they had here, with dozens of birds taking advantage of the varieties of food there. Amongst the many birds, here's a short list: Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Jackdaws, Crows, Wood Pigeons, Moorhen, Coot, Mallards, and a lone Pheasant.

Here's a selection of the photos we took of the birds there:


Greenfinches	Chaffinch (m)

Also next to one of the hides I saw my first Snow Drops. Hard to imagine spring on the way with the horrible weather we've been having, but it must be if these are peeking out already!