Wildfowl weekender

Great catch up with Gareth and Dan down in the west country 11/03 & 12/03.

Gareth and I headed over to Dan's in the Forest of Dean on the Saturday afternoon. We decided to drop into Farmoor Res for what was my second look at the Lesser Scaup, Gareth's first.

It showed amazingly well again down to point blank range at times with a small group of Tufties.

A Redshank showed for a short while, plus the usual rogue flock of Snow and Barnacle Geese!

The next day, we began heading down from Dan's home in the Forest of Dean, to Burnham-on-Sea, to see if we could connect with the wintering Kentish Plover. BUT, we didn't quite get it right with the tide and had to settle for a flock of roosting Turnstone, Redshank and Dunlin, as well as several Curlew, good numbers of Shelduck and nearby singing Cetti's Warbler.

Afterwards, we settled on heading back east to Slimbridge for the rest of the day, to enjoy what it had to offer.

It didn't disappoint with great views of some of the remaining 40 ish Bewick's Swans. Some particularly great views were had from the Peng Observatory and Rushy Hide.

Pintails were another real highlight, with the rare opportunity to see them at such close quarters.  

Elsewhere, Dan did well to pick out the recent White-Rumped Sandpiper, which could be seen distantly from the South Finger Hides. Also in that area were a couple of cream-crown Marsh Harriers and still good numbers of White-Fronted Geese grazing away, in the company of plenty of Wigeon. 

South Lake held a good number of Avocet and Black-Tailed Godwits, as well as a couple of smart Med Gulls and a mixture of common wildfowl. A couple of showy Redpolls, a Kingfisher, Peregrine and a Great White Egret also showed closeby.

Before leaving we took one more look on the Rushy Pen, enjoying more point blank views of common wildfowl and again, the Bewick's - fantastic!