A Quacking Afternoon

I first went to Slimbridge when I was eight and and all fresh to Gloucestershire after moving from Wales. Peter Scott and his wife were very much hands-on in charge of the small collection of ponds populated by swans and ducks.

Mumsie didn’t rate it, however.

“It’s just a lot of little brown ducks that look much the same really, isn’t it?” she declared.

As you might guess, this young birdwatching and nature fanatic was utterly entranced – and so people have been since its inception, thank goodness. I could go on and on about the late great Sir Peter Scott, the poacher turned gamekeeper and enormous influence on wildlife conservation, but I won’t because it’s all here

I’ll just say that the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, at Slimbridge, as it is now, has never been so fantastic for birds, so well organised, so great for families and so worth a visit.  I was there on Saturday and had a great time taking pics – so thought I’d share a few….

The moorhen chicks were very cute indeed. Not so much ugly ducklings as little blobs of black fluff with baldy heads whose feet are way too big. They grow into bigger blobs of feathers and their feet are still completely over-sized until they become fully-grown clockwork adults – well they swim as though they are automated, anyway!

Thankfully, Sir Peter never minded a drop of bird muck…

Ruddy duck – fresh from a dive

Washing and preening is soooo important

Eider bath time

Mallards

White-headed duck. Sweet little endangered thing. Sponsoring conservation.

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