I made a late decision to go to Slimbridge, and didn’t arrive until almost 3pm. With closing time being at 5pm today, this left very little time for me to yomp around the hides and see what I could find, but in the event I did quite well. The tiny white and grey Dunlin among the Golden Plover in this panic-stricken flock took my year count to 98 species, and some wholly unexpected Egrets – Little and Cattle – which turned up at South Lake right at the end of the afternoon pushed it to 100.
I wish the Golden Plover had been angled the other way, so as to display their backs and overwings, because in light like this their yellow and black plumage almost sparkles, but the complex pattern they were flying kept denying me the shot I wanted. Eventually they did turn and show their backs, but by then the flock was much more dispersed, and the light had flattened. You just can’t get the staff these days.
R: L2, C5, D14.
