A lovely morning spent photographing birds at Slimbridge. Nothing remarkable except for nature itself and the warmth of the sun on our backs.
Tag: WWT Slimbridge
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5th March 2025 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire
Statue of Sir Pater Scott who established the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust in 1946 and helped found the World Wide Fund for Nature, Northern pintail Greylag goose Common crane Mute swan taking off Eurasian curlew Eurasian teal Common crane Avocets standing out from the wigeon and the shovelers White fronted geese in front of the barnacle geese More barnacle geese arriving above the Canada geese Greenfinch Goldfinch Long-tailed tit Blue tit Coal tit Common chaffinch Robin -
29th November 2024 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire
“Byrdes of on kynde and color flok and flye allwayes together.” William Turner :”The Rescuing of Romish Fox” 1545
Birds of a feather flock together – they certainly do at Slimbridge and, at this time of the year, in large numbers.
The diary at the front desk gives an indication of the numbers of sightings – but did the golden plover come later? 
The other feature at Slimbridge currently is that the Bewick swans have returned:
Bewick swans in flight There were plenty of opportunities for close-ups too:
Curlew 
Redshank 
Widgeon flanked by greylag geese 
Shelduck 
Northern pintail 
Northern pintail 
Pochard 
Shelduck There were also birds that you are likely to see in your garden too:
Blue tit 
Great tit 
Robin 
… and it’s not all about birds! -
4th October 2024 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire
A beautiful start to the day encouraged us to venture north from Bristol to spend a while at the World Wetlands Trust reserve at Slimbridge. We were well rewarded with close ups of black-tailed godwits, common greenshank, common redshank, northern lapwings, a little egret, Canada and Greylag geese and a green sandpiper.
Unfortunately, the beautiful light didn’t last long and nor did we.
Black-tailed godwit 
Black-tailed godwit 
Common greenshank 
Common greenshank 
Common greenshank 
Common greenshank and little egret 
Northern lapwing and little egret 
Common redshank in flight 
Common redshank with their feet firmly on the ground 
Canada geese 
Eurasian teal 
Greylag geese 
Close up of a northern lapwing showing its beautiful iridescent plumage to best effect 
Ruff 
Ruff 
Green sandpiper 
Green sandpiper 
Ruff 
Comma butterfly -
28th August 2024 – WWT Slimbridge
Peter Scott opened Slimbridge, the first of nine WWT Wetland Centres across the UK, in 1946. Since then generations of families have visited the centre where their interest in nature and conservation has been nurtured.
However, today it seemed more like a vast playground for very young children and their mums, most of whom showed very little interest in the wildlife. It could have been worse as I imagine many of the older children were absent having their shoes fitted for the return to school.
We managed to find a few quiet areas away from the play areas and enjoyed seeing a few interesting birds.
Black-tailed godwits 
The black-tailed godwits were losing their breeding plumage 
Spotted redshank 
Greenshank 
Juvenile ruff 
Green sandpiper 
The ruff and the green sandpiper together 
Very distant common crane 
Ross’s goose and barnacle geese 
Grey heron with its catch 
Common snipe Common snipe in flight 
2 Eurasian spoonbills 
Eurasian spoonbills -
16th February 2024 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire
Another break in the rain and so we make a dash for Slimbridge. There’s not much doubt that these are currently wetlands.
Northern lapwings and golden plover clearly enjoying the wet conditions There were a few rarities there today (spoonbill, dark-bellied Brent goose) but the only rarity (for Slimbridge) which we managed to see amongst the thousands of birds on view were two Whooper swans who have joined the visiting Bewick swans and the native mute swans.
Bewick swan 
Whooper swan 
Mute swan 
Northern pintail 
A ruff and a shelduck either side of a pair of wigeon 
Black-tailed godwits were easier to pick out when they took to the air 
Lapwings 
Even the chaffinch had to negotiate the wet conditions 
We heard the curlews way before we saw them 
I only saw two oystercatchers 
There were rather a lot more golden plover 
The golden plovers regularly made splendid displays over the wetlands 
Northern shovelers 
Wigeon 
Whooper swan up close 
The Bewick swans are much smaller than the Whoopers (and the mute swans) and have proportionally more black and less yellow on their bills 
Male and female tufted duck A few of my favourites from the pens:
Smew 
Goldeneye 
Common pochard 
Goldeneye displaying Slideshow of my photos from this morning’s visit:
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18th January 2024 – WWT Slimbridge
Slimbridge on ice and in the winter sunshine was a sheer delight this morning.
The Bewick swans looked very much at home. We are so lucky to see these beautiful birds so close to home.
Bewick swans in flight 
Bewick swan A snow goose in flight was quite exciting too. The same could be said of the common cranes – we saw two in flight and at least 9 feeding on the edges of the Severn estuary.
Common cranes in flight 
Common cranes 2 water rails close up were also pretty special.
Water rail on ice 
Water rail 
Robin skating on ice 
Northern pintails being checked out by the Bewick Slideshow of this morning’s photos:
Barnacle and Canada geese -
6th January 2024 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire
Following a series of storms in recent weeks, many parts of the country are now suffering flooding (in some cases quite severe). We are fortunate not to have been affected by these floods but locally it is very wet and muddy and difficult to get out and about.
However, we had no problems getting to WWT Slimbridge today and enjoyed seeing large flocks of waders taking full advantage of the wetlands.
The light was not always good but we were very thankful to be out enjoying some fresh air and, for a change, there was hardly any wind.
Golden plover 
Golden plover 
Black-tailed godwits 
Wigeon 
Curlew 
Avocet 
Ruff 
Snow goose 
Teal 
Shelduck 
Redshank 
Lapwing 
Wigeon 
Avocet 
Shoveler 
Gadwall 
Bewick swans Slideshow of today’s photos:
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26th December 2023 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire
It was dull at Slimbridge this morning but quite mild. It was definitely a pleasure to be spared the wind and rain which have plagued us for the last few weeks.
Bewick swans At this time of year the highlights are the Bewick swans which migrate here from the arctic tundra of Russia.
This year the Bewicks didn’t arrive at Slimbridge until the 16th November which is the latest they have arrived on site since 1965. Experts are linking their delayed arrival to climate change, combined with a mixture of stormy and mild weather in recent weeks.
The Bewicks are quite small swans , as can be seen compared to a shelduck There were fair numbers of one of my favourite ducks, the northern pintail.
Northern pintails 
Female northern pintail We also had good views of the generally secretive water rail – with two parading very close up.
Water rail 
Water rail 
Two Egyptian geese flew in to join the large number of greylag and Canadian geese. 
Egyptian goose The wet fields were teeming with lapwing which every now and again were spooked by a predator and took to the skies. Unfortunately, in the the dull conditions they didn’t make the spectacular show that we often see here. We were disappointed also not to see any golden plover which also generally make a great display.
Lapwing 
Lapwing There is always a chance to see common crane here but today they were all very distant.
Common crane close to the estuary Slideshow of photos from this morning::
