Treasure trove of rarities is a delight for twitchers

Rare birds lured a flock of birdwatchers to a nature reserve in Gloucestershire over the weekend.

A buff-breasted sandpiper, a dotterel and a semipalmated sandpiper are the latest rare birds to arrive on the back of the unsettled weather earlier this month.  The two sandpipers are still on the reserve at WWT Slimbridge Wetland Centre and today (Monday) a further group of 60 birdwatchers was led out to the Reserve to see them.

The birds are believed to have been blown off their normal flight path by the recent storms.  The dotterel is typically found in Scandinavia at this time of year and the sandpipers would normally be found in Central America

Staff at the centre are doing guided trips out onto the Reserve to enable the visitors to have a closer view of the birds.

Explore Gloucestershire
19 September 2011

• Also see : WWT Slimbridge

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