A perfect winter's day
Glorious, probably the only word to describe today once the ground had thawed. The Tack Piece and Top New Piece once again filled with thousands of birds, delighting hides full of visitors enjoying the winter wildlife spectacle that is Slimbridge.
South Lake Hides
The wader scrape remained frozen for most of the day, with first light seeing a large flock of waders including 44 Black-tailed Godwit, 400+ Lapwing, 200+ Dunlin and a Little Stint. The deep lake remained open for the whole day holding lots of duck inc 29 Pochard and 6 Pintail. Snipe were showing very well from the Hogarth Hide with at least 27 birds present.
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Rushy Hide
A total of 74 Bewick’s Swans were in for this morning’s feed, including a new family with one cygnet from pair Winkey and Winker. Also present were 108 Shelduck plus lots of Pochard and Pintail. At least 300 Lapwing roosting on the back of the pond.
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Zeiss Hide
The scrape was mostly frozen with birds concentrated at southern end which included 133 Golden Plover, 122 Pintail, 200+ Wigeon, 400+ Teal, 350+ Lapwing and at least 13 Snipe were dotted around the shoreline.
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Holden Tower and Robbie Garnett Hide
After a cold start with only duck present in any number, other birds returned to the Tack Piece following the thaw. Numbers in the afternoon included 68 White-fronted Geese, 418 Curlew, 12 Redshank, 3 Little Stint, 14 Black-tailed Godwit, 477 Dunlin and 33 Bewick’s Swans. A hunting Peregrine caused panic and kept the waders on edge but offered fantastic overhead tumbling displays against the blue sky. Four Cranes were in the goose fields to the north of the Tack Piece.
