I managed to get my trip out today, leaving for Slimbridge as soon as I’d polished off my Saturday morning chores, and returning home mid-afternoon very sore and tired, but quite pleased with myself. I recorded 50 species for the day, which was a good haul, and pushed my 2026 list to 57 – an excellent start to the year.
Sadly, this Smew didn’t make the list, because it’s a captive bird; Smew are rare winter visitors to the UK these days, though they were once relatively common, and I’ve only seen them in the wild a couple of times. They breed in tree holes in swampy coniferous forests in northern Scandinavia and Russia, occupying the same territory as Goldeneyes and sometimes hybridising with them. I think they’re the perfect winter duck, because the drakes’ markings make me think of cracked ice.
I’ve included a second photo of some wild Tundra Bean Geese, which are also rare winter visitors from Siberia. Over the past ten days there has been a significant influx of both Russian White-fronted and Tundra Bean Geese into the UK, on the same harsh northerly wind that has seen the Slimbridge wintering population of Bewick’s Swans go up suddenly from a couple of dozen to over eighty individuals. The staff at Slimbridge are hoping that enough Bewick’s may yet arrive to beat last years’s total of 87 birds, which was the lowest they’d recorded since the winter of 1964/5. Personally, I’m hoping that falling temperatures in Europe and a favourable northerly wind might also bring in some Short-eared Owls.
R: L2, C3, D16.
