WWT Slimridge
Spent yesterday at Slimbridge with my local RSPB group (Central London). It's only the second time Ive been there; the first was over thirty years ago.
I probably expected too much, but in truth I was a bit disappointed. Whilst its interesting to see birds from around the world, the knowledge that they are pinioned or clipped to make them captive puts me off. To my mind, these creatures are meant to be wild and found in their natural habitat and the knowledge that they are not upsets me. I won't visit a zoo for the same reason.
So my real interest was the wild birds. It was a fine day with very little air moving, so the visibility was good but bird movement was somewhat limited. This was good in one way; I had stunning views of two buzzards, one perched on a fence post and the other in a tree. A similar view of a peregrine perched on a log, all three were BIG in my scope and because of there being almost no wind they stayed put for a long period of time. We also got a good view from the Zeiss hide of a bittern in the open which excited those who hadn't seen one before; I've seen a few at Barnes only twenty minutes from my home, so although good to see it wasn't a mega tick for me.
All in all I saw 39 species; the total for the group I was with was 65, which is rather lower than usual. I enjoyed getting a good look at a flock of Bewick's Swans but apart from that and the stunning views of the buzzards and peregrine I didn't see anything that I wouldn't expect to see at Barnes or an estuary site at this time of year. As I said at the beginning, I was probably expecting too much. Never mind; our January coach trip takes us to Holkham and I'm really looking forward to that!
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Last edited by Stargazer; 12-12-11 at 09:57 AM.
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11-12-11, 09:41 PM
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