Slimbridge

Judith, feeding some geese, probably Chinese Geese. 

Flamingoes and their nesting platforms. Slimbridge raises a number of chicks every year. 

A male Ruddy Duck, doing his best mating display. The female was not impressed.... 

A Mallard, seekin' muck. 

The Whoopers were bonding like crazy all the time we were there. 

The water looked pristine on this Whooper Swan's head. 

This is a Whitefaced Whistling Duck. 

This is also a Whitefaced Whistling Duck. 

Don't know what this is, but maybe a type of Scoter? 

This looks very much like a Bahama Pintail to me, as illustrated by a painting in my aged Collins Pocket Guide to British Birds (1971 reprint, plate 49!) 

I can't find this in my Collins paperback book of Birds. I think it must be an exotic, but if anyone recognises it, please let me know..... 

Some flamingoes are pinker than others..... 

A ne ne, or Hawiian Goose. They are extremely tame at Slimbridge, and feed from the hand willingly. 

I think these are Goldeneyes, but they aren't identical to the ones in my book! 

On Sunday last Judith and I decided to go to Slimbridge, the Wetlands and Wildfowl Trust Centre on the Severn Estuary north of Bristol. I got "inspired" with my camera, and these are some of the better results. 

The (entertainingly amended) sign for Goodnestone, Kent, to which the Cock family was almost certainly connected in the 1700s.  

Holy Cross Church, Goodnestone, Kent, where my Great Great Great Grandfather John Cock was born in 1756. 

All Saints Church, Chillenden in Kent, where my Great Great Great Grandfather John Cock married Elizabeth Smithson in 1786. 

The sign for Fordwich, Kent, where my grandfather lived at the time of the 1891 Census. Miles inland, it was nevertheless the original port for Canterbury, and ships sailed up the Stour to unload here - hence the Cinque Port status 

Jubilee Cottages in Fordwich, Kent, where my grandfather lived as a small boy in the 1890s. 

The village of Stodmarsh, Kent, in early-morning April mist. 

The village sign for Stodmarsh, Kent, where my grandfather was born. 

The River Stour, at Stodmarsh, Kent