Slimbridge ... a brief tour

 Collared Pratincole has never been recorded here in Cumbria, contrary to some published material eg. Brown & Grice 2005.  Recently one was reported in Northumberland and also in Cleveland.  Hence, a trip to Slimbridge.

I arrived in the Discovery Hide and a helpful member of staff told me it was on the small island.  Peering into the sun across the extensive South Pool I scanned all the smallish islands but with no success.  The small island turned out to be a tiny patch of half submerged shingle only 30m or so in front of the hide.

Here it carries a recently caught wasp.

During the course of the morning the sun became less unfavourable and the bird gave good views ...

It flew circuits of the pool occasionally but remarkably always returned to an area of shingle just in front of the hide ...

Slimbridge always seems to deliver an interesting selection of birds.  Most of these were rather distantly out on the fields toiwards the river so phonescoping was the only option ...

A group of Russian White-fronted Geese fed way out along with some Barnacle Geese and Greylags ...

and a Snow Goose flew in, although probably not from America ...

... followed by a small group of Cranes ...

... what a wonderfull place !

Some waders roosted by a pool from the Zeiss Hide ... along with the Redshank were two Spotted Redshanks ... just occasionally preening a moving a few steps ...

Also a Great White Egret conveniently posed along with two Little Egrets to emphasise its greater stature ...

Norfolk in October ... large numbers of Geese creating atmospheric skyscapes ...

 The dominant feature of the saltmarshes last week was the flocks of Dark-bellied Brent Geese while the skies were filled with skeins of Pink-footed Geese ... each uttering their characteristic wild calls ...

At the start and end of each day the Norfolk skylines included lines of Pinkfeet ...

... and sometimes giving nice views as they passed overhead ...

... here the top three birds are adults showing barred flanks while the lower two are juveniles with their plainer flanks ...

The Brents showed best near the pool on the Eye Field at Cley as they fed on the short turf ...

... an adult on the left with its neck collar and plain mantle while the juvenile on the right shows white tips to the mantle feathers giving white lines on the back ...

... three smart juveniles on their first Norfolk visit from their Arctic Russian birthplace ...

... and two adults

Holkham Freshmarsh had a Great White Egret but rather distantly but some Little Egrets showed nicely over the saltmarshes ...

Sometimes a common species can show particularly well and allow the finer plumage details to be observed closely, and so it was with this second winter Herring Gull on Blakeney Point ...

... while a Red-throated Diver lingered offshore ...

... and two Red Kites made a rather unexpected appearance over the point ...

... and a flock of Golden Plovers moved through ...

... the predominance of adults among the Black-headed Gulls was interesting with just an occasional first-winter as here along with a Grey Plover and a couple of Turnstones ...

Another creek held a single Greenshank ...

Pat's Pool at Cley held plenty of birds and this male Teal showed more of the speculum than usual as it fed nearby ...

... and then a Barn Owl flew by ...

... before drifting away over the reeds ...

... but tantalisingly a flock of gulls gathered rather far away to the east ...

... among the melee was a fine male third winter Caspian Gull ...

A fitting finale to a good Norfolk day !