June 2024 Field Trip Slimbridge

Slimbridge Wildlife Walking Tour - June 2024

On a lovely June Sunday morning, 16 of us were welcomed to the Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands site by two of their expert guides, John and Roberta. We split into 2 groups, one of which went clockwise and the other anti-clockwise around the wider reserve area, the exact route being tailored to the best wildlife activity expected that day.

We started off by pointing out many birds, including swallows, greylag geese, mallards and mute swans. The mallard drakes were beginning to go into eclipse plumage as their important work for the year was past. It was exciting to see house martins, mostly in artificial nests where they rear 2-3 broods each year. Some birds were heard but not seen – cetti's warbler, reed warbler and sedge warbler among them.

We went into several hides, and as well as making good use of the guides' monoscopes, were lucky enough to see a male kingfisher (with black lower beak) preening for a long time on a post in the lake. This meant that we could take our photos without having to spend 10 minutes walking to their nesting site!

Avocets and their chicks were around, so were black-tailed godwits, shelducks and chicks, tufted ducklings – it was definitely a good month to be there, I'm sure.

Avocets

Avocet chicks

There were plenty of wildflowers to spot as well, they are encouraged as they help to keep butterflies and moths, insects and and small mammals safe and sound. We saw 3 orchids species (common twayblade, southern marsh orchid and common spotted orchid) also water iris, grass vetchling, meadowsweet, hemp agrimony, knapweed, self-heal and many others. There were Jersey moths and water snails in abundance, and one group of birds that is not welcome anywhere at Slimbridge! These are the Egyptian Geese, which are neither native wildfowl nor part of any of their collections. It is believed that they escaped (or were illegally released) from a private collection and have unfortunately thrived at the site. They are described as “thugs” by the staff, as they terrify every other wildfowl there!

We had brought sandwiches with us, and sat in the sunshine at the end of our 2 hour tour, reminiscing about our sightings that day. Thanks to Dave Sage our trusty minibus driver, and John and Roberta our guides.

Liz Wintle