Скачать или смотреть A tour of Slimbridge Wetland Trust, with rare Snow Geese and a Ross's Goose sightings.

We see rare Snow Geese and an extremely rare Ross's Goose on our tour of Slimbridge Wetland Trust. Never having been before, I really needed a Slimbridge tour guide. My friend Martin Batt who has been going to there since 1959, very kindly agreed to take me round, giving sharing his insights.

Slimbridge was founded by Sir Peter Scott, the son the famous Scott of the Antartic Explorer, who asked his wife, in one of his last letters, to encourage their son to be involved with nature. It is an incredible story, it is an incredible achievement as Sir Peter Scott not only formed the Wetland Wildlife Trust but also a founding member of WWF (World Wildlife Fund) and I believed designed its logo. His father would be so very proud of him.

The Wetland Wildlife Trust has ten sites across Britain, seven in England, one in Wales, Northern Ireland and One in Dumfries southern Scotland https://www.wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres

Memberships is very affordable. As my wife and I are now in our seventies, it costs us just over £60 a year with a gift aid donation, as a tax payer, they can claim back the tax.

Contents of this video

00:00 Feeding call intro at Slimbridge
00:30 Drive to Slimbridge and bird insecticides
04:14 Slimbride entrance
04:51 Simbridge map showing today's route
05:44 Peter Scott's painting & the Nenes
06:12 Guide Martin Batt & how Slimbridge has changed
07:25 Children's wet pond dipping area
07:46 Martin Smith Hide
08:55 An oyster catcher - early sign of spring
09:49 To Willow Hide
10:50 About Bewick Swans
12:32 Into Robbie Garnett Hide
14:26 Bewick Swans breeding cycle in the artic summer
15:23 Stephen Kirk Hide
16:25 Three Snow geese come in
17:01 Cob driving off rival swan
17:17 Bewick Swan brood young survival
18:52 Holden Hide - Ross's Goose
20:24 Slimbridge Warden updates us
20:49 The infamous Bewick Swan - Sirindi
22:01 The Rushie Hide
23:50 Bird population & climate change
25:30 Peng Observatory - when is best time?
26:11 Slimbridge habitat changes
26:40 Picnic tables and lunch feeding birds
26:55 Why are adult Bewick Swans dying younger?
28:31 Swan Lake - why did Scott choose Slimbridge?
29:32 Wader Shore Hide
30:31 Sasha Dench - Bewick Swans migration
32:56 Tundra pools
33:55 Bewick Swans Xray - shot bodies
35:46 Scott's arctic cabin
36:47 11 countries followed Sasha - swan champions
38:30 North & South America pools
39:56 How lead shot is poisoning ducks?
42:23 Chilean Flamingos
43:51 Zeiss Hide
44:45 Danish hunters stop using led shot
45:56 Walk to the Van de Bovekamp Hide
47:06 Australian Black swan - escapee
47:36 King Fisher Hide
49:20 Evening feed begins
51:18 The otter feeding
53:08 About UK greylag geese history
54:17 Bird feeding order - geese on land, ducks in water
55:11 Slimbridge summary

I was really impressed by the size of the site, with a large number of hides, and lots of areas for the members of the public. Outside the 'human area', there is the area for the wildlife, birds in particular. The evening talk was absolutely excellent, top class. To end with that after the tour, just capped my day.

I was back with my wife the next week, to take one or two clips for this video, of the Bewick Swans before they leave for their journey back to Russia and the Tundra breeding grounds. We also enrolled as members. I can see us visiting Slimbridge a lot in the future taking our guests and grandchildren to engage with wildlife and particularly the birds.

The Wetland Wildlife Trust staff we found very personable. You will see we met a guide as we walked round, he was very happy to engage with us and his excitement at seeing the rare Snow Geese and a Ross's Goose, was palpable. The feed at the end of the day, had a question and answer session at the end, that was brilliant as it showed, it was not just a job, but the involvement of the wider public was so important. Well that day created one fired up member of the public and that is me.

The ladies at reception and in particular the membership lady were excellent. We gave feedback regarding the complexities of their web site to the web team. We at least got a response to our first e-mail, if not even an acknowledgment to the second.

Over all I would give Slimbridge very high marks for what it does. Well done everyone who continue the legacy of Sir Peter Scott at the Slimbridge Wetland Wildlife Centre. Thank you.