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It’s almost a tradition for us to go to Slimbridge at this time of year: it’s definitely worth it even if you only go to the hides and don’t visit all the exotic wildfowl in the pens (which isn’t really our cup of tea anyway).

The stars were the whooper, Bewick’s and mute swans in flight. although pintails and the water rail were a close second. Its always good to see teal, wigeon and redshank close up too.

Bewick’s swans

Mute swan

Mute swan

Whooper swan

Amourous shelduck

Male pintail

Female pintail

Lapwing

Redshank

Greylag goose

Teal

Blackbird

Lapwing

Wigeon

Greylag goose

Waterrail

Robin

Bluetit

Tufted duck

I have mixed feelings about the bust up between the whooper/Bewick swans; in the end it was probably no worse than the stand-offs seen by rugby players in most matches these days. However, it did remind me of the infamous “99” call made by the England rugby team v Australia in 1975 with an element of pre-meditation.