Flamingos freeze-framed!
Greater flamingos have bred so well at WWT Slimbridge Wetland Centre that keepers can no longer count them with the naked eye as they move around.
So for the first time, keepers are using photos and videos instead to conduct the annual flamingo count - a legal requirement as part of WWT’s licence to keep flamingos.
The Slimbridge greater flamingo flock is the largest in the country – there were 260 counted last year. Their home is the UK’s biggest flamingo lagoon which is as big as two Olympic sized swimming pools and still has room for plenty more chicks to hatch and grow every summer. Visitors can get within a few feet of the birds in a sunken observatory which provides a unique “chick level” view.
Flamingo keeper Phil Tovey said:
“The flamingos’ lush pink colour makes them seem to merge together as they move around.
“By using photos and video, we can count our birds accurately. We can also track individuals and learn about flamingo society behaviour. This is vital conservation work which can’t be done in the wild because looking at thousands of birds at once makes your eyes go fuzzy!
“One quirk of flamingos is that they decide together as a flock whether to breed each year. The fact that ours are breeding so well shows they feel content and secure on their lagoon at Slimbridge.”
The flamingo count is ongoing over several days in order to double-check the numbers. WWT Slimbridge Wetland Centre is the only place in Europe where you can see all six flamingo species, four of which are classified as ‘near threatened’ or ‘vulnerable’.
Slimbridge’s flamingos live among the biggest collection of wildfowl in the world which includes more than 2,500 swans, geese, ducks, cranes and wading birds. You can also see captive otters, harvest mice, newts, frogs and other wetland animals.
The Wetland Centre is set in 800 acres of wetland nature reserve where you can see thousands more wild birds including nearly 200 Bewick’s swans who have flown from arctic Russia to overwinter by the banks of the River Severn.
Paul Rose, a member of the IUCN Flamingo Specialist Group and a PhD student at WWT, is giving a talk called ‘Keeping Flamingos in The Pink’ at Slimbridge’s Festival of Birds on Saturday (31st). To find out more about activities at the Festival click here
