Tag: Bittern

  • 29th September 2025 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire

    29th September 2025 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire

    What an amazing summer! It seems to go on and on. Statistically I have seen it has been the best ever in the UK; better than even the summer of 1976 which, as I was in my late 20s and enjoying a great summer of sport, was for me the best before this one.

    What a treat too to be able to go off birding on a Monday morning following a great weekend of sport (now sadly only as a spectator) with success for England in the Women’s Rugby World Cup final, a trip to see Bristol Bears gain a good win over Leicester Tigers in the first match of a new season, Arsenal sneaking a win in the dying moments of their game and the success of the European team in the Ryder Cup golf. This morning was just as good though.

    We saw so much and in such wonderful light (so no complaining from me except that I still failed to capture two common cranes flying right in front of me – ineptitude on my part). The best was clearly seeing the very secretive great bittern but it was all quite a joy and we enjoyed our trip to Slimbridge so much that we stayed much longer than usual and had a very late lunch there too.

    Great bittern

    Great bittern

    Apologies to all who were hard at work on a Monday morning: in my defence I did 47 years of those.

    Some of my photos:

    Ruff

    Common redshank

    Little egret

    Northern lapwing

    Eurasian teal

    Green sandpiper

    Green sandpiper with greylag goose (for size comparison)

    Green sandpiper with mallard

    Lots of geese and a handful of common crane on the Severn Estuary

    Eurasian wigeon

    Eurasian wigeon close up

    Common snipe

    Common snipe

    Common snipe

    Common snipe and green sandpiper

    Black-tailed godwit

    Black-tailed godwit

    Great bittern

    Great bittern

    Grey heron

    Common darter (for Mike in the USA) still around

    Some of the other activities at WWT Slimbridge:

    The visitors centre at WWT Slimbridge

    Trees of life in the remembrance garden

    Never forgotten

    Duck decoy

    I don’t suppose Sir Pater Scott would have minded.