Slimbridge and Coombe Hill Meadows

After seeing that Slimbridge had a moulting Long Billed Dowticher and Curlew Sandpiper, myself and my Birders Wife decided to make use of our membership to the Wildfowl Trust and make a visit to the reserve to boost my year list.  A quick phone call to the Capt secured her for the day out as well.  After checking out the bird news for the day, we discovered that a juvenile Purple Heron was showing at Coombe Hill Meadows, which was a short detour on the way down to Slimbridge.

After the nightmare of finding a spot to park in the small car park at Coombe Hill Meadows, we made our way towards Grunden Hide and then decided not to negotiate the pathway to the hide itself due to the stinky water involved.

After many false alarms of Grey Herons and about a 30 minute wait we finally caught a glimpse of the Purple Heron as it flew briefly, showing off its orangey/purple plumage to us.  A twitch it may have been but at last one of my unseen bogey birds finally now seen and lifers for all three of us - Hurrah!

The final leg of the journey down to Slimbridge took an unbelievable two hours due to an overturned lorry.  When we finally arrived, I rushed over to the Tack Piece to nab myself  a Green Sandpiper (one species that has continued to elude me this year) and after some searching I finally managed to find one.  I then met up with my Birders Wife and the Capt in the South Lake Hide and after a lot of searching I found the Long Billed Dowitcher in amongst the Black Tailed Godwits and Ruff.  A really beautiful little bird and the first I have ever seen in summer plumage (another lifer for the Capt who was being just greedy).  As time was marching on, we marched our way to the Zeiss Hide and after a few minutes were put onto the Curlew Sandpiper by a friendly birder.

The drive back home was no better than the journey down, as we had to make a detour off the A46 just outside Stratford Upon Avon due to what looked like a very nasty accident.

Myself and my Birders Wife had tickets for the Warwick Folk Festival and were keen to see Eddie Reader but after finding out that she was not due on stage till 10:30pm decided to go home and chill out in front of the TV instead.