Swans taking off at WWT Slimbridge

I thought I would go to Wildlife and Wetland Centre at Slimbridge while the weather was still reasonably warm. I think it will change very soon. Today's predicted sunshine was very late in coming however as thick mist covered the landscape all morning, but I set off in hope before lunchtime.

The centre is thirteen miles from our home but set in a very different type of flat landscape beside the estuary of the River Severn which has a very large tidal range. Unfortunately their Summer Walkway, which allows pedestrian access to the river bank itself, had now closed for the winter period, as the seasonal visitors become scared by the presence of people.

So I chose to visit the Zeiss hide at the other end of the grounds where there are views out over meadows and a few small lakes managed specifically for the wildlife. At first it seemed very quiet with only a few groups of teal and lapwings settled on the lakes.  A large heron stood preening itself before it headed into the shallows to stalk its prey. Various breeds of geese occasionally flew past to land on the far meadows to graze or on one of the smaller lakes.

When the sun came out there was more activity as if the sun had energised the birds for feeding. Three cranes flew from a far meadow where fourteen of them were grazing. Two swans flew close to the hide and landed on a nearby lake where they were immediately challenged by two other resident swans leading to a short contretemps.  That ended when the two visitors were seen off and as they took off and flew away I filmed them for my blip photo.  They circled in a wide arc and flew back over the other two swans in a protest, as I like to think, before flying into the distance. Considering how many swans there are at Slimbridge I was surprised by the anger that was expressed in the violent reaction to the interlopers.

I chatted to a few other birdwatchers in the hide and one of them tipped me off when a sparrowhawk set up a flock of lapwings, which then massed together in relative safety before returning back to float and feed again on the lake. I have added a picture of them in flight in the 'Extra photos' as well as a picture of the three cranes flying past.