Juvenile Lapwing

So it wasn't a duck in the end!

In fact, I pretty much avoided the captive birds section today. With the kids all off on holidays it was pretty much mobbed. So I stuck to the hides, including the River Severn Hide on the Summer Walk, which I have never done before. There was a Spring High Tide, and it was wonderfully tranquil sat by the banks of the river.

I spent quite a lot of the day in the South Lake hide. The South Lake was choc-a-block with birds. There were plenty of Bar Tailed Godwits, Redshank, Black Headed Gulls, Comorants catching the sun. There were Spotted Redshank and Ruffs, both ticks for me.

There we loads of juvenile birds there, including this Lapwing. I sat and watched an adult and juvenile Oystercatcher feeding in the grass.

One little surprise for the day was a flyover by the Red Arrows.

Slimbridge have added a Wader World area now. Similar to the nursery area at Pensthorpe. And like Pensthorpe it had Avocets and Redshanks.

All in all, a very good day out. The next time I visit Slimbridge, I suspect the winter wildfowl will be arriving, the seasons are about to shift again.

I have put more photos from the day in this Flickr set.

I have also updated the Blipfoto Flickr Set to include various pictures that made into this blog, and those that were rejected.