Phoebe Vaughan is duckery warden at Slimbridge Wetland Centre. Follow her blog throughout the seasons in order to discover the highs and lows of working as an Aviculture Warden at WWT Slimbridge. Follow Phoebe's diary and keep up to date with all the feathery goings-on at the duckery.
Duck diary
So where is Hawaii?
Hello! Food? Having contributed to this current edition of Waterlife, it has been pointed out to me that I might need to look at a map... Turns out, they're right! For years (and years) I have stuck to m
16 July 2016
Wet rearing at Slimbridge - what's fluffy right now?
Suddenly, it's July! We've had an exceptionally busy June, and thankfully we have a lot of beautiful birds to show for it. These lovely little ducklings are Bufflehead, a stunning North American sea duck. Part of the Bucephala (Goldeneye) family, these
9 July 2016
Cinnamon teal; a new breeding experience.
Just look at this beautiful bird! This is a female cinnamon teal, a stunning little American duck that breeds in the Northern states and overwinters in south America and the Caribbean. They are believed to have 5 subspecies, and their range overlaps with
20 June 2016
Aviculture today and tomorrow.
It's Downy Duckling Days at WWT Slimbridge, an event designed to provide a free opportunity for a family-friendly duckling experience designed to engage and inspire future generations. We hope that by continuing to engage children and families we will imp
1 June 2016
Freckled ducks - a duck's eye view...
Whilst worming a group of 2015 hatched stifftails this morning the lively topic of conversation amongst my colleagues was "name your top three" birds at Slimbridge. My top three was: Freckled duck Black-headed duck White-winged wood duck This was imme
25 May 2016
Breeding birds; what can we expect in the early season?
There is a surprising amount of species kept at WWT Slimbridge that even now, are preparing for the 2016 breeding season! As we've discussed before, our birds come from all over the world, and their breeding seasons are stimulated by more than just season
5 March 2016
Breeding Summary - Slimbridge 2015.
Duckery seasonal summary 2015: WWT Slimbridge Wetland Centre As many of you know, to guarantee purity and comfort we breed our wildfowl at WWT Slimbridge in bespoke purpose-built breeding pens off site at the Top Hut. Here the best of the
17 February 2016
Ducks and flamingos come together...
Hello readers! As you’re no doubt already aware, WWT Slimbridge is home to a vast array of ducks, geese and swans, as well as all six species of flamingo. In this diary instalment, Phoebe and Paul thought it would be a good idea to team up and collabo
15 November 2015
Hardheads in the Duckery.
A little insight into the Australian white-eye or Hardhead today. Possibly one of the most overlooked species at WWT due to its residency within the Australian exhibit which must surely contain some of the weirdest and wackiest of all the wildfowl... It d
24 October 2015
Runner ducks return to puddleduck.
Just a little note to say... Runner ducks have made a grand return to the Puddleduck corner exhibit this month. To all of those who like a giggle or a guffaw head on down to see them in action. There's definitely nothing cuter; and best of all they're a
3 September 2015
Some wonderful waders...
This season I was lucky enough to be involved in hand-rearing some wading species once again. You may have seen in our PR pages a small piece on a Ruff being hand-reared with a duck for company, and I'm hear to tell you that it was as funny as it sounds!
23 August 2015
Some delightful late-hatched fluffies at the Slimbridge duckery!
You wont believe me, but the breeding season at Slimbridge is drawing to a close. Every duck, goose or swan worth it's salt should already have youngsters that are several weeks into their feather development by now. In the wild this is the time of year
11 August 2015
Nest checks at Slimbridge.
In the last few months I have been over-seeing the breeding efforts of some beautiful wildfowl species. Working with birds is definitely a privilege, and I thought that I might share with you some of the thoughts and processes behind it here in my blog. A
29 July 2015
Some freshly-hatched fluff-balls.
We've almost become accustomed to the cuteness overload that is the "nest coop" at the WWT Slimbridge duckery come June... We've had weeks and weeks of "oohs and aahs" but the babes just keep on hatching. I thought I'd feature for you today three of the v
3 June 2015
First 'Freck' news of the season.
I love a Freckled duck, and the first Frecks of 2015 graduated today! After a breakfast of porridge (their favourite way to eat...) we waited for the heavy rain to pass before collecting them up into a crate and transferring them to a graduation pen insid
29 May 2015