Trip to Slimbridge

*And breath*

After finally beating the battle of finishing all my exams I have almost 3 months free to do whatever I want. This is really exciting for me as over the last few months lots of exciting ideas and plans have built up. Obviously all of these things are related to wildlife and the outdoors one way or another and I really can’t wait to get started with them all so watch this space!

What better way to start my three months of freedom off than a trip to Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetland Trust reserve in Gloucestershire. Last time I went to Slimbridge was quite a few years ago when I was about 10 which I vaguely remember. We arrived at about 10.30 and straight away I was surprised by how close you could get to the wildfowl. We started off by having a look around the more enclosed areas then eventually made our way round and ended up at the more ‘wild’ spots and by the Severn Estuary. It was a great contrast of the more zoo like areas and a nature reserve. So at some areas you could see the wildfowl species up really close, like avocets and shelducks, then at other areas on the reserve you could see them from a distance and fulfilling more of their natural behaviour.

Two birds that Slimbridge is well known for are the cranes and the flamingos. Both of which we observed for a while and took some photos of. Another bird which many who have visited Slimbridge may think are also well known are the nenes. They were feisty geese which seemed to have one aim, raid food. They were almost like little pick pocketers, when eating my lunch I had them pecking on my legs like you’d expect a dog too!

Overall it was a great day out and we really enjoyed ourselves. I also managed to get a few photos even though it was a very dull day.