A nice wader day

The Cattle Egrets roosted again last night on the South Lake and then flew out to the fields opposite the Primary School in Slimbridge village by 8:30am.  We've also seen a nice selection of waders on the pools and scrapes today, including a Little Stint on The Dumbles.

Zeiss Hide

Seven species of wader on show this morning made up of the Spotted Redshank, 19 Redshank, Avocet, 13 Dunlin, 229 Lapwing, Ruff, 73 Black-tailed Godwit.  A female Stonechat was flitting across the tops of the reeds in front of the hide where a Cetti's Warbler was also very vocal.
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South Lake Hides

The Cattle Egrets roosted on here but were seen again in the fields around the village shortly after.  The only other birds of note this morning included 16 Black-tailed Godwit, 117 Lapwing, a single Shelduck, single Pochard and 58 Shoveler.
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Rushy Hide & Peng Observatory

The 2 Egyptian Geese were back for the morning feed along with 19 Pochard, 34 Pintail, 33 Shelduck and a host of Mallard and Tufted Duck.  Still no Bewick's Swans, although 4 have been seen in Somerset, so they may arrive any day now.
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Holden Tower

A good flock of Golden Plover were out on The Dumbles this morning, around 300 birds were present with around 100 Dunlin.  Star bird however was a Little Stint mixed in amongst the flock.  Both the Golden Plover and Dunlin were very flighty whilst the Lapwing remained unphased so its hard to say what was putting the other waders on edge.  A Ruff was also present.  On route to the Holden Tower, a Stonechat is showing well on the reed tops outside the Martin Smith Hide.
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