Slimbridge Wetlands

We had a most enjoyable time at Slimbridge. Along with the pictures which can be seen on our website, we also took some video which didn't make it onto the website. I thought I would attempt the blog route to see if that would post the video in a usable fashion. So here it goes . .

Here we see David feeding some geese that walked right up to him. They've learned that the little brown bag being held by the nice people walking through is full of goodies that they themselves don't have to catch. Now while most of the birds in this habitat preferred not to get this close - these birds wouldn't eat the seed off the ground. They were picky you see and they didn't see any reason why the nice people couldn't just cup their hand to serve as their dish for as long as they wanted to eat. This gave us the unique opportunity to feel their beaks on our hands as they dined on what we had to provide.

Hmmm . . this seems to be taking some time, but it seems feasible so I guess we'll wait it out. Besides, there is 2 more where this one came from.

It seems strange that as much as I enjoy the electronic world, I've never attempted a blog prior to this. I'll be honest that I've not even read one (at least not all the way through). It does seem like an ingenious way to provide everyone the same information without typing it in multiple emails though, which holds promise for me. Not that I don't enjoy keeping my family and friends apprised of our travels and such here, but I can't always remember who I've told and who I haven't. This holds the benefit of everyone being able to check it on their own, in their own time. Worst case scenario, this bombs and we go back to the web page as a way to keep everyone up to date. I do plan on continuing with the web page anyway as it's been fun to create and update. Oooo .. It's time for video 2.

Watching David feed the geese looked so interesting and like so much fun that I just had to try it. After all, how often do you get wild birds to eat from your hand? How soft are their feathers? What do their beaks feel like? Okay for someone who works with birds, these may seem like stupid questions, but being this close was a first for me and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Now, this was not the last that we saw of these geese. They, in fact, stopped us a couple of more times on our walk through the wetlands to beg for more seed, fed by hand of course. Now, I will admit that it may not have been the same exact geese, but it was the same breed and they all had the same feelings about eating the seed off the ground - they weren't having any of it! And they had mastered the art of "cute" so it was easy to give in and feed them again, and again.

Eventually we did manage to "just say no" and we moved on. We did manage to get past those geese which gave David the opportunity to feed some ducks as well, as you can see below.

Okay . . so having gone this route one time, I must say that the website seems a tad bit easier. Why? you ask . . because I can load all the videos at once and walk away from the computer as it grinds away loading them to the web in lieu of waiting for each video to upload and process. I know, I know . . that seems rather short-sighted of me and perhaps I'll change my mind with time, but for now . . this is my first Blog, so tell me what you think.

Thanks,

D.