Today's Sightings
Another good morning for warblers along the Holden Walkway with lots of Blackcap and Chiffchaff seen and heard plus Garden Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Cetti's Warbler and Willow Warbler. The group of 13 Ruff remain on the Rushy Pen, tending to favour the back left corner along with a few Snipe. We've also had a great showing of Cranes with 11 on the South Lake close to the hide, preening in the morning sunshine. The colour rings on the birds' right legs allow us to identify individuals and present this morning were Cotton, Evie, Oakie, Bart, Squidgy, Ruby, Albert, Cookie, Wendy, Bombus and an unringed bird - the chick raised here at Slimbridge in 2015.
South Lake Hide and Hogarth Hide
Along with the group of 11 Crane on the South Lake scrape were a 3 Curlew Sandpiper, single Ruff, at least 19 Redshank, 109 Black-tailed Godwit, 228 Lapwing and lots of Teal. No sign of the Garganey so far, but its worth checking through the ducks carefully from every hide.
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Holden Walkway
A good number of warblers along the walkway and from the Holden Tower and Knott Hide. Look out for Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat, all of which were seen this morning. A couple of Bullfinches were seen this morning too. A single Whinchat, 59 Teal and Green Sandpiper were on the Tack Piece whilst out on The Dumbles were 186 Barnacle Geese, 2 Peregrines, a single Wheatear, 2 Buzzard and a Stock Dove. A charm of 30 Goldfinch were busy feeding on the thistle heads along the hedgerow to the Summer Walkway.
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Rushy Pen
The two Egyptian Geese are still present with the Greylag flock. Waders included 13 Ruff, 8 Lapwing, 3 Black-tailed Godwit and at least 3 Snipe. The Little Grebe was showing well from the hide, 4 Cormorants were busy hunting, a single Shelduck was present and around 20 House Martin were busy around their nests on Sir Peter Scott's House. Make the most of them, before long they will have left us for their wintering grounds.
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Kingfisher Hide
A Sparrowhawk flew through this morning heading towards the Zeiss Hide. Out on the Bottom New Piece were a single Ruff, 10 Lapwing and a Black-tailed Godwit. A Kingfisher flew down the rhine and a Cetti's Warbler was calling.
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Zeiss Hide
Although the temperatures remain warm and the sun is shining, the flock of 34 Wigeon are the first signs that winter is on its way, and with it tens of thousands of wintering birds. Waders on the Top New Piece included an Avocet, 48 Lapwing and 2 Ruff. A group of 20 Gadwall were on the Bottom New Piece and a Cetti's Warbler was calling from the reedbed. Two Willow Warblers were also seen.
