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
Eric! the saga continues...
The gruesome threesome are still going strong, and the Ericking is only getting louder! Like the common cranes, exercise proves very important for the early development of young flamingos. As with any long-legged species the muscle growth needs to keep up
8 October 2011
Some 2011 favourites
Aah the south Georgian pintail... So under-rated! Their proportions; from the roundness of the head to the curve of the belly are totally perfect. Despite this delicacy however they exude a sort of.. stoutness, which goes a long way to explaining their at
17 September 2011
A ruddy-headed goose double date
A glorious male Ruddy head.I am a bit obsessed with some of our sheldgoose species, not least the Falkland island examples such as the Ashy and Ruddy-headed goose. They just tick every single box; beautiful, delicate, unique, compact, characterful...
1 September 2011
Stiffys!
When my boss Sparky does a census mid-way through the season, you can guarantee it will be for Stifftails and seaducks... 2011 has absolutely blasted last year's record clean out of the water. Stiffy wise we have bred 20+ white-headed duck, 15+ Maccoa,
12 August 2011
Smew success!
I love Smew. They seem... precise, with tremendous character and depth. I adore the way they animatedly nod at each other as if gossiping maliciously amongst themselves. If a Laysan teal has a cigar and a Carolina a tutu, then a Smew would definitely hav
12 July 2011
Chinese spotbill surprise...
My experience of Chinese Spotbill is that they are a flighty duck, with a delicate temperament and a tendency for secrecy. In 2010 we put a pair in a breeding aviary in the outside duckery, and they spent all year doing absolutely nothing whilst hiding i
1 July 2011
A little gosling take over!
The Duckery is over-run this year, not least with the influx of goslings coming our way!Never before have the Downy Duckling Day tours been blessed with so many little balls of fluff toddling across the grass... To top it all off they contain species whi
28 June 2011
Bufflehead
Bufflehead are brilliant. They hatch from the tiniest of eggs into veritable balls of monochrome fluff, and their bold black caps and soft dark eyes prove to be very captivating. As the very smallest of the divers they are exceptionally delicate, easy to
23 June 2011
Greater Magellan developments
Yay! After a difficult incubation period with cracked eggs and an abandoning mum, Mrs. Magellan's eggs finally hatched in our incubators to produce 5 wonderful goslings... These little stripy balls hatched out to great applause from duckery staff after t
21 June 2011
Black-headed ducks
These ducks may be brown, dull, and mousey in many aspects, but they are absolutely stunning in others! The black-headed duck or "cuckoo duck" is to me the most fascinating and innovative of all the birds we keep at Slimbridge. The birds live solitary liv
16 June 2011
Black bellied whistling ducks :)
These little guys have worked hard to become the universal Downy Duckling Day favourite this year, and they really do deserve it!! The black-bellied or southern red-billed whistling duck is a relatively common duck native to the southern USA, Mexico an
13 June 2011
Lesser flamingo activity!
I am sure many of you are currently thinking, "what's going on at the Lesser house?" After hatching out Hope just a few years ago, the Lessers have not looked good to breed ever since. As an aged group their favourite activities include feeding, washing,
5 June 2011
Updates on the move!
Just a flying note to update you all on Duckery activity so far this year... WOW is it busy?!! We have had the biggest May boom for years with the Duckery literally overflowing with birds. A stunning 22 North American black duck hatched within 3 days, an
3 June 2011
Come to Downy duckling days!
Every year the Slimbridge Duckery opens its doors for just 10 days glorious to celebrate the joys of the duckling season... Running from 11-4 daily from the 28th May - 5th June (and henceforth once daily until mid June) the tours will allow you to witness
28 May 2011
Chatty Cubans during hatch
These guys are one of the earliest clutches of Cubans seen at WWT Slimbridge for as long as anyone can remember. A lot of whistling duck species have the "aah" factor in bucket loads, but the Cuban whistling duck is often labelled the most "boring" and se
5 May 2011