Bad weather brings record year for wild birds at WWT Slimbridge

24/10/2008 16:55:31 October 2008. For many of us the British weather might not be a cause for celebration, but at the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust's Slimbridge Wetland Centre the wind, rain, storms and sunshine has created one of the centre's best years on record for wild birds. The number of wild birds spotted at Slimbridge this year is way above average, and with several months of the year still to go staff at the centre believe it can only get even better.

195 species seen so far this year
James Lees, reserve warden at WWT Slimbridge, said: "The average total of species seen at WWT Slimbridge in a year is 171, but so far this year 195 species of wild birds have been recorded which is the best ever, and with a couple more months to go the Slimbridge wardens hope to add a few more. We believe the weather has played a big part in this year's large total because it has been so varied with no real sustained periods of weather. Also the wardens and volunteers put in a lot of extra work to make sure the reserve is in perfect condition to attract species all year round."

Ideal birding weather
This year's periods of clear calm weather followed by short snaps of rain and wind is ideal conditions for finding birds, as they will migrate in clear calm weather but then get held up in bad weather.

White stork
James Lees added: "A classic example of this was a white stork that appeared in June this year which was seen flying in off the sea at Southampton at 9.25am, flying north in clear sunny conditions with a light southerly wind, then at 1pm a large rain storm over Slimbridge halted the stork's migration and it was forced to land on the reserve. The stork sat out the storm and an hour or so later was seen flying north again at several hundred feet in clear sunny conditions, no doubt on his way to Eastern Europe.".

Pectoral sandpipers WWT.

American wigeon, buff-breasted, pectoral sandpipers, spotted crake and a whiskered tern
This unpredictable weather has bought in other birds from across the globe. American wigeon, buff-breasted and pectoral sandpipers that normally live in North America have all been seen as well as spotted crake and a whiskered tern from Eastern Europe, Mediterranean species like kentish plover and cattle egrets and a Richard's pipit from Asia.

Sea birds & mountain dotterel
Some of the strong winds this year have also bought with them many seabirds including storm petrels, manx shearwaters, gannets, fulmars, skuas and even a red-throated diver, all of which are normally only seen miles from the shore. Slimbridge wardens were also lucky enough to get a mountain dotterel for a week in September.

James Lees said: "You normally have to climb a few thousand feet to see one of these beautiful waders on a snowy mountain top in Scotland or Scandinavia. So who knows what will turn up in the next few months!"

White-fronted geese and Bewick's swans due in soon
Both white-fronted geese and Bewick's swans will be arriving at Slimbridge in the next few weeks after their 2500 mile flight from Arctic Russia. Around 25,000 wild birds will be on the reserve this winter, and visitors can come along and see many of them at our commentated wild bird feeds from 29 November.

To keep up with all the latest sightings at Slimbridge visit our wildlife sighting page at: http://www.wwt.org.uk/news/213/sightings.html