The Swan

A glorious day out at Slimbridge today, courtesy of Pete. For those who don't know it, it's the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Reserve near Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, founded by Sir Peter Scott in 1946 on the banks of the estuary of the River Severn

It's been a couple of years since we've been, but there's always plenty to interest me - and the photo opportunities are endless. There are thousands of wintering swans and geese, as well as plenty of "collection" birds and resident birds.

We made a reasonably early start to get a full day there; it's about an hour or so journey across the other side of the Severn Bridge. The usual build up of traffic from Pontypool to Cwmbran going to work, but once we were past that it was clear all the way.

One of the most striking aspects of this visit, different we thought to previous visits, was the flocks of Lapwings that rose like clouds into the sky at the slightest excuse. They weaved and morphed like a single entity into different shapes in the skies over the estuary. They seemed to be spooked by the slightest thing, so we had plenty of entertainment throughout the day.

The "usual suspects" were there of course, the Swans in all their majesty. It's absorbing to just observe the birds behaviour, just going about their lives oblivious to the watching eyes. There are so many different hides to choose from, with expansive views across the Severn floodplain with the flocks of birds moving in synch with the tides.

Of the hundreds of photos I took it's always going to be the Swans that take pride of place here, they are such elegant and beautiful posers. Although it was a close thing with the Lapwings, today I'm going for this shot of the swan strutting his stuff like the "prima donna" he is .