On Saturday we (that is Gen and ourselves) travelled to Gloucestershire via the Cotswold Water Park near Cirencester. Reports of a Short-eared Owl had been posted during the week and we thought it might still be around. A short walk from the car took us towards the Shorncote Reed Bed, luckily we met another birder whose first words were "Have you seen it?". He had just been watching it and it had flown in our direction! And there it was - quartering the field to our right. It was a beautifully coloured bird and seemed not to be too bothered by an audience. We watched it for over half an hour as it hunted, perched and then hunted again.
We travelled further on to Frampton-on-Severn in the hope of seeing Water Pipit but lacking local knowledge and details of location gave up and moved on to check what birds were around at Slimbridge before driving down to Ham Wall in Somerset for the Starling roost. WOW!! Along with a hundred or so people we watched and listened to over 50,000 starlings gathering at Ham Wall to roost in the reed beds. Passing Sparrowhawk and Marsh Harrier only helped to enhance the spectacular show. The sight and sound was unforgettable and made more so because they were reasonably close to where we stood.
On Sunday we met up with other Beds Bird Club members for a visit to Slimbridge. A very murky start meant a tour round the pens and ponds admiring the very colourful waterbirds. A visit to the Holden Hide when the fog had lifted revealed Canada, Barnacle, White-front, Pink-foot and Greylag geese, a couple of Buzzards, a Peregrine, Curlew, Lapwing and Dunlin plus a few Shoveler, Pintail, Mallard etc. We finished with a visit to the Wild Bird feed which only had a few Bewick's Swans and no Whoopers.
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| Caribbean Flamingos |
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| White-faced Whistling Duck |
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| Ringed Teal |
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