Bill Oddie’s How to Watch Wildlife. Stephen Moss
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Slimbridge
Camera and film if you want to practise bird photography on easy subjects – especially the captive birds in the collections
A field guide
Timing
You will see wildfowl at any time of day, but to observe feeding and roosting it’s best to arrive in early to mid-afternoon, and stay until just after dusk. Most WWT centres are open daily throughout the year: for details telephone 01453 890333 or check out their website (www.wwt.org.uk).
Wild goose chases
As do all people of a ‘certain age’, I delight in recounting how, when I were a lad, I suffered for my pleasures. Not least in pursuit of wild geese. As soon as I had passed my driving test, my Dad allowed me to take his car to go birdwatching. His nervousness about my dodgy driving was presumably preferable to the chore of chauffeuring me to various bleak reservoirs around Birmingham.
Slimbridge then was not as it is today. Go to the headquarters of the WWT now and you will be delighted by one of the most lavish and ‘modern’ wildlife centres, reserves, establishments – it’s all those things and more – in the world. Back in the late 1950s, it was all a bit more basic. There were a few ‘captive’ birds in pens, principally for scientific study and reintroduction schemes. Nowadays, it is an incredibly complete ‘collection’, and the science is world renowned.
One aspect hasn’t changed, though: now, as then, several thousand wild geese – mainly white-fronts from Siberia – winter along the Severn. In fact, there were even more when I was a teenager. They invariably fed way out on the ‘Dumbles’, the water meadows alongside the river. The wild geese were what I wanted to see. More specifically, I was close to being consumed by an ambition to ‘tick off’ a lesser white-fronted goose, a very rare bird but one that had inspired Peter Scott to found the Wildfowl Trust when he spotted a ‘lesser’ at Slimbridge back in the 1940s.
Frankly, my chances of emulating Peter Scott weren’t good. Not just because lesser white-fronts were so rare, or because it would have been very difficult to pick one out among the thousands of common white-fronts, but mainly because in those days it was almost impossible to get a decent view of the geese! There were only one or two rather rickety wooden hides, and even from them the geese were miles away. If it was a misty, drizzly day (which it almost always was), they were totally invisible.
Bill's top tip
_ If there is a really cold spell, especially with ice and snow, it is well worth wrapping up and getting out there. Animals and birds tend to lose their fear when they are cold and hungry, which means you may get some specially good close-up views. Wildfowl have to crowd into whatever tiny bit of the local lake or reservoir is left unfrozen.
I kept borrowing Dad’s car and slipping down to Slimbridge, but no luck. So what did I do? I turned to crime. Or at least delinquency. I would wait until there were no Trust staff in sight, then I’d scramble over a locked gate, scuttle across a muddy field, dive behind a hawthorn hedge and crawl under cover until I finally reached the ‘safety’ of a derelict concrete ‘pill box’, which during the war would have ‘guarded’ the river banks in case Britain was invaded via the Severn.
From there I did actually get some pretty cracking views of the geese and, on occasions, I was surrounded by the flock. The problem then was that I didn’t dare to try and crawl back to the gate, in case I put up the whole flock and got caught trespassing. More than once I had to lie in the pill box, among cowpats and rotting rabbits, until it was pitch dark and the geese had flown off to roost. By the time I’d stumbled my way through the mud and barbed wire and raced back to Birmingham, Dad had usually gone to bed. Next morning, I simply lied a bit about how late I had been.
The irony is that I never did see a lesser white-front. Well, not until nearly 30 years later, when I was invited to Slimbridge by Sir Peter Scott himself. It was at that moment that I felt I simply had to confess my sins, and give myself up. I am happy to report that instead of prosecuting me for trespassing, he invited me to sit on the council of the WWT.
I – no, we all – have a lot to thank Peter Scott for. He was a truly great man.
How do I see an owl?
There are five species of owl found regularly in the United Kingdom, and they are surprisingly common and widespread – yet can be almost impossible to see. That is, of course, unless you have to hand the right information, you are willing to make a bit of an effort, and you have some good fortune.
The late autumn and winter months, from October through to March, are definitely the best time to see owls. Why? Because the lack of food compared with the spring and summer means that they have to be out hunting much of the time. Not all owls are nocturnal, and the daytime and dawn and dusk hunters have even less time than at other seasons of the year. Even the two truly nocturnal species, long-eared and tawny, are easier to see because of their habit of roosting at regular and often visible sites, which are often well known to local birdwatchers.
So how do you find out where you might see a roosting owl? One way is to read the county bird report (available at your local library), or better still, join your local bird club, whose members will often have access to privileged information and be able to show you the owls. If you do visit a roost site, however, always have the welfare of the birds in mind: a roosting owl is trying to get some sleep, and you should keep your voice down and avoid sudden movement, even if the bird seems unconcerned. You will not be popular if the owl deserts the site.
Two other species of owl, little and short-eared, are primarily daytime hunters. Little owls were introduced to southern Britain in the Victorian era and, unlike many such foreign incomers, appear to have thrived without causing harm to other wildlife. When seen well, a little owl is unmistakable: tiny, plump, with piercing yellow eyes. Look for them perched on fence posts, barn roofs and pollarded oak trees or willows. Short-eared owl numbers have declined in recent years, and your best chance of seeing them is by visiting a coastal marsh or farmland and keeping an eye out for one flying low over the ground as it hunts for voles.
Stuff to take
Binoculars and warm clothing
A telescope if you want to get amazing close-up views of a roosting bird
The consummate hunter among all owls, however, is the barn owl. Ghostly white on silent wings, it flies low over the ground before plunging down on an unsuspecting vole. An unforgettable sight, it has in recent years become a more common one, having made a comeback after decades of decline, especially in parts of East Anglia where barn owls are frequently spotted in roadside settings.
Best places to look
Owls have very specific habitat requirements, which can help you find them:
