New Passage 6:30am - 8:30am
I actually left home at 5:20am, as I was already up at 3:45am making breakfast for Dawn before she left for work at 4:40am. With the car packed with bins, telescope and camera it was off to New Passage to see what was around. I had no idea what state the tide was in and when I arrived in the pouring rain, it was quite obvious I'd arrived at Low Water.
With waterproofs and wellies on it was off to the promenade first and a look across the beach. There were quite a few Wigeon, Teal and Tufted Duck on the water and several Oystercatcher, Bar-tailed Godwit and Curlew along the waters edge. There were also hundreds of waders with Dunlin, Ringed Plover and Turnstone present. A Little Egret was seen feeding in the River Pill and overhead there were many Meadow Pipit and Skylarks calling as they moved inland. A Sparrowhawk found an unwary Dunlin on the beach and was whisked off into a tree for breakfast. By the esplanade there were 3 Wheatear feeding on flies in and around the boulders and small party of Linnets landed in a bush to my right.
Birds Recorded at New Passage: Little Egret, Shelduck, Mallard, Gadwall, Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Moorhen, Coot, Ringed Plover, Golden Plover, Grey Plover, Dunlin, Ruff, 2 Snipe, Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Whimbrel, Redshank, Greenshank, Turnstone, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Dunnock, Robin, 3 Wheatear, Blackbird, Song Thrush, 3 Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Great Tit, Wren, Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Starling, House Sparrow and 10 Linnet.
A few images from this morning:
6:36am in the pouring rain
A few Gadwall make their escape
As do a pair of Snipe
There were 3 very obliging Wheatear on the boulders. I reckon this is a juvenile male..
...and a female...
the juv male again
....another female/juv....
....and the male again. Well he is very photogenic!
Linnets
Slimbridge 9:05am - 11:15am
Having left New Passage in a light drizzle it soon stopped and as I arrived at Slimbridge, so the sun came out. Surprisingly I was the first one to arrive at main entrance, probably because they don't open until 9:30am. But after several minutes there were a good half-a-dozen or so bird watchers all waiting for the doors to open.
Now I've not been down to the Van de Bovenkamp hide before and Peter one of the wardens at Slimbridge was kind enough to take me there, as this was his patch on the Reserve. He had just come back off holiday and was just as keen to see the Crake as we all were.
By the time we got to the hide there were 7 of us, all sat there waiting patiently for the Crake to appear. And sure enough it did within a few minutes of us arriving, giving us amazing views as it began feeding in the shallows. A huge tick in the box.
As the Hide began to fill to the brim I headed off to the Zeiss Hide, which I found more by luck than judgement, and I must say this must be one of the best hides on the Reserve, with great views across a very shallow purpose made wetland, situated just behind a reed bed and field. In the hide I met another warden called John, who was spending his day off bird watching at Slimbridge. And why not, in fact I couldn't thank him enough as he kindly pointed out 3 Little Stint in amongst the Dunlin. I definitely would have struggled with Id'ing them, even with my 20 - 60 zoom lens on the scope. I did find a Ruff and Snipe, and heard a Green Sandpiper, which we both saw eventually with another bird. In the field were several Common Crane and they seemed to be enjoying the warm sun, as we all were.
Eventually it was time to leave and John suggested I went to the South Lake for the two Curlew Sandpiper. I didn't find two birds, but I did see one on the island on the right hand pool. So not a bad morning out at all.
Birds Recorded at Slimbridge were: Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Greylag Geese, Canada Geese, Shelduck, Mallard, Gadwall, 30 Pintail, 70 Shoveler, Wigeon, Teal, Tufted Duck, Water Rail, Moorhen, Coot, Common Crane, Lapwing, 60 Dunlin, 3 Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Ruff, 2 Snipe, 2 Redshank, Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank, 2 Green Sandpiper, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Swallow, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Reed Warbler, Cetti's Warbler, 5 Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Starling, House Sparrow, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Reed Bunting
Spotted Crake
Little steps....
a quick look at the camera
all clear and a feed.
He certainly loved pulling at the weed for those little snails
A few of the Common Crane opposite Zeiss Hide doing a bit of preening...
...whilst these birds were on the other side of the reserve up by Holden Hide
A short flight and .......
....then down onto a field close to the river.
A drake Pochard on one of the pools. I just love those red eyes.