Birthday Birding!

 

I had a wonderful birthday day-out with some friends at WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, a few days ago. 

We arrived there at the leisurely time of 11.30am and set off in search of birds!

This Pigeon was my first photo, taken only a few steps away from the entrance. I was amazed by its orange eye and the violet-green colours on its neck.

Looking out onto a huge pond from one of the hides I saw Tufted Duck, Mallard and Teal. A beautiful male Pintail duck swam very close by, I like the ripples in the water.

Here are 3 of the lovely male Tufted Duck.

As I sat watching the waterfowl a Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna) drifted into view.

Some people may think they are geese because of their size! 

There are about 15,000 breeding pairs in the UK though their numbers are boosted in the winter from birds coming in from Scandinavia, bringing the UK wintering population size to 61,000. 

Ahhh! I know rats can be an annoyance at times but these were just so sweet!

They had taken advantaged of the seed being dropped underneath a bird feeder; they were a family of 5 rats ( 2 adults with 3 juveniles) all scuttling around!

I couldn't resist adding another photo of them...

Sticking with the theme of commonly seen wildlife - a Black Headed gull in winter plumage. There was a small group of them perched on a fence, I tried to get nearer and as they are so accustomed to humans they let me get really close.

Another hide, again looking over a large pool, where there was a large flock of Lapwing. I managed to capture the beautiful purple, green and black colours in its plumage as the light was perfect.

Lapwing have had a severe population decline since the 1940's, the RSPB has provided a huge amount of information about this - you can have a look at the links here - they are fascinating.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/lapwing/population-trends/

https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/conservation/conservation-and-sustainability/farming/advice/helping-species/lapwing/