wellinghall | Birding

Yesterday,

adaese and I went to Slimbridge WWT (Wildfowl and Wetland Trust) for a gull watch. We hesitated before going, as there was a lot of heavy rain about, but in the end we decided to go; and we're glad we did, as the rain abated, and we had a great evening.

The tour was timed to coincide with the birds coming into roost and the tide coming in, and it took us out onto the private area that you can only visit with a warden. We saw all seven species of gull that they get there at that time of year, with Great Black Backed, Lesser Black Backed, Herring, Common, Black Headed, Mediterranean and Yellow Legged. (Neither of their winter species - Icelandic or Glaucous - but that was no surprise. And we did see a Glaucous gull in Svalbard last year - along with a great impersonation by one of our guides, of it swallowing a little auk). As well as the gulls, we saw a Spoonbill (yes, really; apparently they get a few each year as they migrate), Curlew, Dunlin and Knot.

The warden said that in total, there were round 19,000 gulls out there; but in winter, they can get up to 200,000. Apparently that's the best spot for them on the whole of the Severn estuary, as it's protected and there are no dogs permitted (and hardly any humans - only small groups with a warden, and even then we were kept well back from the edge of the water). The warden gave us some tips on when best to see gulls and waders for ourselves, and we had the obligatory (but still welcome) plug for their other tours (including one for waders, and one for the Severn Bore).

I didn't take my camera because of the weather, but even if I had, my lenses wouldn't have been long enough.

adaese had her binoculars - with any luck, we can get our other pair (not as good, but still quite reasonable, and with better low-light capability) out of storage soon.