Mandarin Duck at Slimbridge

Had a fantastic day at Slimbridge bird watching today. We even saw a kingfisher twice which has made my year :o)

Gary saw him flash past first then he landed for a nanosecond on a branch opposite the Kingfisher hide before flying off down the river. Then a bit later after we had been sitting there looking out of the hide window I saw a bird flying towards us and then saw the neon blue flash - they move so fast we had no time for photos but I'm just happy to have seen it at fairly close range. Next time I'm taking binoculars though.

Also took this mandarin duck photo, he was such a poser!

We didn't leave until we'd seen the wild bird feeding at 4pm, the big numbers of migrating birds haven't arrived yet, only 7 or 8 Bewick's swans instead of the hundreds they are expecting so we'll have to go back again in a few weeks I think.