Pumpkin Trail at Slimbridge

Last weekend we decided to make the most of some decent weather and visit Slimbridge. For the half term week there was a free pumpkin trail running for children, with a bag of sweets as a reward for counting the correct number of painted pumpkins on boards around the reserve.

All our trips to Slimbridge involve a visit to Wellyboot Land, and now Emily is old enough to enjoy splashing around and getting soaked in here with her older sister.

Emily was straight into the water as quickly as possible, happily following her sister around and having fun taking Daddy for walks through the stream and having a helping hand down the slide.

Once the girls had had enough and had a change into some dry clothes, we continued round the site, counting pumpkins and feeding ducks. We made our way up to the flamingo lagoon. The viewing area is right up against the lake, giving you a real close up view of the birds here – should they decide to let you.

We were luckier with the otters – all three were splashing around and came swimming right past us. We also got some close up views of the water voles who were also having lot of fun in the Back from the Brink exhibition.

This time of year it is the Bewick Swans which are the stars of the show. You can watch the wild bird feeds inside the observatory from Sunday 2nd November through to 28th February. It’s amazing to see these beautiful birds – all identified by the unique black and yellow pattern on their bills – and hear about their amazing journey from arctic Russia. It’s well worth a visit, but if you don’t get to see any of the wild Bewick’s, there are a few in the collection on the reserve.

I just wanted to include this picture for anyone who had read a previous post on this blog with Emily looking a little bit scared of a goose (http://www.stoppingattwo.co.uk/post/98294964103/help-goose) as this is one of the gorgeous Nenes being fed by hand.

So if you are looking for something outdoorsy to do over the winter, where you can get up close and personal to some wildfowl, or see hundreds of beautiful wild swans, I highly recommend a visit to Slimbridge.