The first field trip of 2016, organised by Ian Duddle, was a coach trip on Saturday 9^th January to the Wildfowl & Wetland Trust’s Slimbridge Reserve in Gloucestershire. On arrival at the Wetland Centre, the party split into 2 groups, which were led by Ken and Sarah White. A careful search through the ducks in one of the first pens enabled a grey-backed Scaup to be picked out from the black-backed Tufted Ducks. Ken’s group headed out to the Zeiss Hide, which looks out over wet grassy fields to the Severn Estuary. Large numbers of Lapwings and Golden Plovers rose up on several occasions, separating in the air into distinct flocks, with the Golden Plovers climbing higher in the sky. Careful searching revealed a large Peregrine, thought to be a female, perched on a post near the river bank. Wigeon, Teal, Shelduck and a few Bewick’s Swans were seen here and there was a distant view of 2 Cranes. Next stop was the Holden Tower, which looks out over the Severn Estuary from the other end of the Reserve. The group were able to get a much closer view of the Cranes from here. A small party of White-fronted Geese was feeding in one of the fields. The next hide looked out over flooded fields. A well-camouflaged Snipe was picked out at the water’s edge. Pintail, Curlew, Redshank and Dunlin were amongst the sightings here. A smaller male Peregrine was spotted in a tree at the far side of the field. Before taking off, it moved its head from side to side.

In the afternoon, a walk round the collections gave the opportunity to have close-up views of native and overseas ducks and geese. One pen had a collection of waders, including Ruff, Redshank and Avocet. The 2 groups joined together to listen to a talk on the reintroduction of Cranes, using eggs taken from the Black Forest. A flock of Cranes is now being established on the Somerset Levels and it is some of these birds which have returned to Slimbridge to winter on the Severn Estuary. Final stop of the day was the warm and comfortable Peng Observatory, from where the group watched the late afternoon feeding of large numbers of ducks, geese and swans, including family parties of Bewick’s Swans.