2nd August 2026 – WWT Slimbridge

As the beautiful summer continues we had a pleasant trip this morning to the World Wildfowl Trust’s centre at Slimbridge in Gloucestershire.

There were a few pleasant surprises with a wood sandpiper that was a little reticent to perform at first but came close and displayed very well. We don’t often see spotted redshank so they too were a pleasant surprise. Common crane are quite regular here now and we saw 11 in total and two flew over very close. I managed to photograph a sparrowhawk in flight but it was a last minute effort and a poor photograph. Green sandpipers have been here for our last two visits and again came fairly close as did the ruff. We haven’t seen little grebe here for a while and there was also a pair of common terns to complete the morning.

A greater flamingo was a surprise too but it was not a sign of global warming, simply an escapee from a zoo.

Hope you enjoy the photos.

Spotted redshank

Wood sandpiper

Little grebe

Little grebe

Common crane

Common crane

Common tern

Little egret

Pied avocets

Wood sandpiper

Spotted redshank (left) and ruff (centre)

Ruff

Common tern

Sparrowhawk

Common redshank

Eurasian lapwing

Wood sandpiper in flight

Wood sandpiper

Female and male ruff

Ruff

Green sandpiper

Wood sandpiper

Greater flamingo

Greater flamingo

Painted lady was the only butterfly on display

Comments

11 responses to “2nd August 2026 – WWT Slimbridge”

  1. Suzanne et Pierre Avatar

    Lovely photos of these beautiful birds. (Suzanne)

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    1. martintayler Avatar

      Thank you, Suzanne.

      Martin Tayler

      Martin’s bird & nature blog: http://martinsbirdblog.com

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  2. Roger Avatar
    Roger

    Lovely wood sandpiper. Didn’t go hunting the recent long-tailed shrike (all the way from Siberia) in Gloucestershire then? Been out of circulation for months, following a heart attack (two weeks before my planned SAGA bird trip to Spain). Big shock. This old age is no joke is it? Hope you are both well.

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    1. martintayler Avatar

      Hi Roger,
      Well that is a shock – I was looking forward to hearing about your bird trip to Spain. Pleased that you have survived it and can still follow your keen interest in birds. Hope you are out and about soon. Not much of a twitcher really so we have not seen the shrike except in everyone’s photos. Remarkable. Keep fit and keep in touch. Love your comments.
      Martin and Wendy

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  3. Michael Sammut Avatar
    Michael Sammut

    Great observations and fantastic photos.

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    1. martintayler Avatar

      Thank you , Michael. That’s quite some compliment coming from you who I consider the best bird photographer.

      Martin Tayler Martin’s bird and nature blog: https://martinsbirdblog.com/

      Liked by 1 person

  4. robertawrites235681907 Avatar

    What a wonderful lot of birds you saw, Martin. You got some great shots. Lovely to see the zoo escape too 🦩💓

    Liked by 1 person

  5. martintayler Avatar

    Thanks, Robbie.

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  6. Michael Sammut Avatar
    Michael Sammut

    You’re welcome. You humble me. I am certainly not that good 😊.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. T Ibara Photo Avatar

    Wonderful images, I’m glad you hare having a lovely summer.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. martintayler Avatar

      Thanks, Takami.

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