News
A great flamingo.
Phoenicopterus roseus, the greater flamingo, is one of the most wide-spread and well-known of the six species. Occurring in many parts of Africa as well as closer to home in Europe (large populations exist in southern France and in Spain), greater flaming
14 May 2012
Ducks are disappearing from our seas - WWT calls for international action
Long-tailed duck, James Lees Numbers of seven species of sea duck have dropped by up to 65% in Northern Europe in the last 15 years, including some that winter off the UK’s coasts, particularly long-tailed duck and
14 May 2012
What's with the pink "knees"?
Introducing the birds from Chile. In the South American Pen at WWT Slimbridge you will find a large flock of a very striking species of flamingo. Phoenicopterus chilensis, the Chilean flamingo, is instantly recognisable thanks to its bright tangerine-pink
12 May 2012
Have you seen Mr James?
There is a very special bird living at WWT Slimbridge. He is both fascinating from a natural history viewpoint and from a “zoo history” perspective. Phoenicoparrus jamesi, the James’ or Puna flamingo, is a little-studied, poorly understood species
11 May 2012
Developments update
We have a fantastic meeting all day yesterday based on forthcoming developments in the grounds this year. The aim is to completely redevelop the Australiasia area of the grounds and create new areas for birds such as magpie geese and cereopsis. This work
10 May 2012
Bank holiday success
I was on holiday for most of the bank holiday but I am pleased to say that we had a fantastic few days with over 3300 visitors. Everyone really seemed to enjoy the reptiles and the birds of prey and I have had some lovely emails as well as posts on twitte
8 May 2012
Live images restored to the webcam
After a day and a half with a blank screen we now have our ospreys back live on our CCTV system and the webcam. The pictures came through just after 4pm today and we could see the female osprey sitting tight on her nest. At this time of year we probaly
4 May 2012
Lapwing chick
Guest blog by Reserve Warden Mike Caiden Lapwing chick - Mike Caiden This Lapwing chick (above) was found on an island on the main lake, during some essential maintenance work on the islands. It's probably only a day
3 May 2012
Caerlaverock summer walks are now open
With the departure of the barnacle geese and most of our wintering wildfowl we have opened our meadow walk and the river walk that meanders along the banks of the Lochar Water. The wildlfower meadow is not in bloom as yet apart from the cuckoo flower whic
3 May 2012
CCTV nest camera offline
We are having technical problems with our osprey webcam. There is a fault in the system and we will have pictures back as soon as we can. The weather continues to be dry and sunny but a bit chilly with the NE wind in the mornings.
3 May 2012
Huge trout for early lunch
This morning our female osprey was sitting on the nest in sunshine albeit with a still chilly North-Easterly wind. She still has the sides of the nest built up to act as a wind break so seeing down into the nest cup is tricky. Her mate flew in at 10.45am
30 April 2012
Appraisals and objectives
It is a very hectic time at the moment as I am busy doing all the appraisals for all my head of departments, as well as writing their objectives for the next year. We have a completely new method of doing this now and the time they are due always seems to
27 April 2012
A quieter day at the nest
Yesterday the female osprey spent the morning incubating her 2 eggs in a chilly North Easterly wind. her mate, male 08 flew in at 1.10pm with a fish which she took from him and flew to the tree nearby to eat it. He then took his turn sitting on the eggs
26 April 2012
First calf of the year born
Our first calf of the year was born on Friday. The Long-horn cattle are on the fields by the community reedbed walk up by the sewage works so they can be viewed from there. Both mum and calf are doing well and we are expecting a large number of calves ove
24 April 2012
Crane lands at Martin Mere
A common crane was seen at Martin Mere yesterday and it is still on site today. I got all excited at first as I was really hoping that it was one of the cranes that we released down south but unfortunately it doesn't have a ring number on it so it isn'
23 April 2012