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Filed under Gloucester 2023, Holidays, Science & Nature

Pretty Flamingo

On our recent visit to Slimbridge we failed to find the advertised Pelicans but were happy to see all six species of Flamingo (not all captured on camera) residing in their separate watery locations.

Andean Flamingo

American Flamingo

Greater Flamingo

Chilean Flamingo

Chilean Flamingo

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18 Comments CherryPie on Sep 11th 2023

18 Responses to “Pretty Flamingo”

  1. Sean Jeating says:
    September 12, 2023 at 1:12 am

    Fascinating. Nevertheless, I prefer free-ranging flamingos, like those in south-eastern Spain.

    • CherryPie says:
      September 12, 2023 at 1:30 am

      As Slimbridge is a wetland site primarily for conservation breeding and protection of endangered species I am not sure why the flamingos are there.

      Most of the wild fowl are free to come and go. Migratory birds can be seen in spring and autumn.

      In the case of the Nene Goose (previous post) it would now be extinct if Peter Scott had not bred the goose and reintroduced it back to its native country.

  2. Mandy says:
    September 12, 2023 at 8:53 am

    How wonderful. I’d never heard of Slimbridge before your posts but I’d love to visit there now. I see flamingos have been at Slimbridge over 60 years now, originally brought in by Sir Peter Scott to study their “(thought at the time) evolutionary links to the ducks, geese and swans”. As you say I. The comments above, they’ve made Slimbridge their home now and are free to migrate if they wish.

    • CherryPie says:
      September 12, 2023 at 10:13 pm

      I first visited Slimbridge as a child and had fond memories of my visits. This was my first visit since then. I wasn’t disapointed :-)

      I hope you get the chance to visit Slimbridge, the WWT Arundel site is also well worth a visit.

  3. Caroline Irwin says:
    September 12, 2023 at 9:14 am

    Great photos of the flamingos and it is always lovely to see them :)

  4. London Caller says:
    September 12, 2023 at 12:29 pm

    I don’t remember these flamingos at Slimbridge many, many years ago!
    There’s also one WWT in South London.
    I used my Tesco vouchers to visit it for free ;)

  5. Shabana says:
    September 13, 2023 at 1:05 pm

    Wow what a lovely site

    watching these pretty flamingos must be a joyous experience dear Cheri :)

    beautifully captured as well
    loved these photos !
    blessings

  6. Chrystal Chaplow says:
    September 14, 2023 at 2:41 pm

    Well, I can’t speak for how long they’ve been at Slimbridge, but because I’m a bird nerd, I can add just a tad to the flamingo trivia, did you know that they are actually born grey, then white, deriving their pink color from their food?

    And that in the wild, they live about 20 to 30 years, but in captivity, in a proper habit, they can live up to 50 years? Makes us all feel a little less guilty about keeping these habitats, maybe :)

    Also, as a tangent, I have a stuffed flamingo with crunchy feathers as a dog toy for Ziggy pug. His name is Placido Domingo Flamingo, like the Spanish opera singer. I have tied Placido to a string so that he can “fly” about for Ziggy to chase lol.

  7. Chrystal Chaplow says:
    September 14, 2023 at 2:51 pm

    PS – I am adding a pic of Ziggy and Placido Domingo Flamingo that I just took on our balcony on my blog :)

    Don’t mind our peeling balcony, the apartment community we live in is redoing them in the spring ;)