2 January 2017

Blue Rock Thrush > Slimbridge

Date: 2nd January 2017
Location: Stow-on-the-Wold > Slimbridge
Weather: Blue Sky, Cold and Sunny
Other Species:

Observation: As Lauren returned from London last night, we planned to finally visit the Blue Rock Thrush as blue skies were forecast for Stow-on-the-Wold. We have always stuck to the 2-hour rule when it comes to twitches (depending on how fast we drive!!)

We arrived at around 10am and parked in the car park which was around a 5 minute walk away. On arrival plenty of birders around, but had been told it had just gone into the garden to feed, using this opportunity we went around the back to find even more birders! The light was alot better this way and after a short wait the BRT popped up onto the rooftop which was in full sunlight.




After around 20 minutes it flew off and done a full circle of other nearby roofs, with even better light!




After around an hour, it flew over onto the conifer tree and perched there for a few minutes. It then flew back into the garden to feed again, we left shortly after this as out plan was to spend the rest of the day at Slimbridge.


Shame it's out of focus!


When the BRT disappeared, there were plenty of other birds to photograph including this Starling.


We saw and we conquered! A stunning bird, what a way to start 2017!

After what seemed like forever we arrived at Slimbridge to a full car park and even cars parked out on the road.

We headed straight for Rushy and the Martin Smith hides, hoping they would be slightly quieter, but it seemed they would all be pretty full today!

From the Martin Smith hide the resident Buzzard was on the fence as always, but today it was alot closer so proved for some nice shots!



The Wigeon flock were very flighty today.


What trip is complete without some in-flight shots...



The Bittern showed briefly for us late afternoon from the Kingfisher Hide, but unfortunately no images.

With everything starting to roost, a last drop-in to the Rushy proved successful with more flight shots, but with the light fading we got a few of the Bewick Swan's and headed home.



A very successful day with a finally some decent sunshine to try out our new camera kits!

A lovely start to 2017 and with hopefully plenty more trips planned!

Thanks For Looking ! 
 Happy New Year to All our Readers, Thanks for all your support!

If you enjoy our blog's, why not follow us on our social media:


No comments:

Post a Comment

Feel free to leave comments if you have visited Newton St Loe recently, would like to add some sightings or even if you just like the page!
Thanks NSL-Birding...