Pink flamingos at Slimbridge

On the spur of the moment I decided to go to WWT Slimbridge, when I heard that there was an unusual visiting bird, a Glossy Ibis which had been feeding on the South Lake for a couple of days. The sun was shining and the forecast was good and I realised I wouldn't be ab;e to go there again in the next few weeks.

Once I'd arrived and as soon as I got out of the car I was amazed by the huge numbers of birds flying around the area, literally in their thousands. There were sometimes at least three flocks of different species milling about in the air and intermingling at times,, and nearly as impressive as murmurations of starlings.

I walked straight to the furthest point, the Holden Tower, where I like to view the meadows beside the adjacent River Severn. There birds were feeding on the flooded marshy ground and when spooked they might fly up and off in their flocks before returning in huge numbers to land in the water or on the grass. Individual birds often had quarrels with others usually of different species and they would chase and be chased. 

I don't know what all the birds were, but they included widgeon, plovers, lapwings, cranes, buzzards, jackdaws, gulls, swans, geese of many types, stints and many types of duck. I spent ages marvelling and photographing, trying to catch the spectacular flight action of individuals and of flocks.

But the one species which weren't out there were the flamingos. I spotted this group all huddled together inside their hut next to their outdoor pond, which had obviously been renovated very recently. II could hear a cacophany inside and poked my head against the glass windows and was very amused. I thought I would try to get a rather low light image of them, and in the end have decided to blip this one.

I didn't see the Glossy Ibis, but then again I didn't go looking for it, having been rather bowled over by everything else.