Another wild goose chase

Late last year I missed the Tundra Bean Geese that had been seen at Baston and Langtoft gravel pits, a `dip` that cost me my 170th species for my local patch year list. However, I received a call yesterday from Mike Weedon to tell me that 4 Tundra Bean Geese had again been seen by Josh Jones at these pits and were presumably the same birds as before Christmas. The problem with these birds was that they were on private land and could not be viewed from public areas. Today Mike re-found them on a pit close to the village of Langtoft which could be viewed and so, after his kind phone-call I raced down there to get a view. The birds were present with a mixed flock of Canada and Greylag Geese, with a couple of European White-fronted Geese present as well and has lifted my 2012 patch list to 91 species.

This goose is split into 2 sub-species, the Taiga and Tundra and arrives in Britain in September, with 450 individuals spending the winter here. The majority of these  are found in Norfolk, indeed when I went to Buckenham Marshes the other day I saw a large flock of Bean Geese, but these were of the sub-species Taiga or fabilis. In the PBC area, however they are quite a scarce bird, hence the `mad dash` to see them!

New Year, new start

Another year of listing has ended and I am quite glad that it has. 2011 in the PBC area was good for some, there were some cracking birds seen, but not by me! A juvenile Night Heron was seen by 3 local birders, but by the time me and Chris Orders had arrived on site, the bird had vanished ; a Pied Flycatcher was found in a local garden and I was away ; a couple of Bean Geese were seen near Langtoft and a female Scaup on Deeping High Bank and again both had vanished by the time I had arrived on site! All in all, a pretty miserable year for my local list, a paltry 169 species were seen, but some goodies were in there, including Raven, Wood Warbler and White-fronted Goose. Maybe this year will be better?

January 1st is traditionally a day when birders are out and about starting their lists. Not for me, as it is Lisa`s birthday and so she, quite rightly, comes first. We went out locally on the 2nd and got a few birds, the White-fronted Goose is still at Ferry Meadows CP and a lovely Kingfisher was seen, but my year list will start with a vengeance at the weekend.

What`s the Anser?

The window of opportunity has been firmly closed just lately, what with the winter nights drawing in earlier and earlier and work being constrained to the few daylight hours we have got in the U.K. at this time of year. Because of this I have been unable to catch up with the long-staying European White-fronted Goose that has been at Ferry Meadows CP for the past week. On Saturday this window was slightly ajar and so I made the trip to the cereal field close to the Nene Valley Railway line where this goose was known to be residing along with a flock of 70 ish Greylag Geese.

The bird was present and seemed to be quite content with feeding amongst its` larger cousins, but the peace was to be shattered with the arrival of an out of control Airedale terrier! The dog bounded across the field intent on getting to the flock of geese, which quickly flew off, with its owners frantically calling the `out of control` animal. On passing me they apologised, saying that he always does that sort of thing! Now, I am an animal lover, indeed Lisa`s job is looking after people`s dogs, but why, if you cannot control your dog do you not walk it on a lead? I only ask, because this incident beggared belief.

This bird represents number 169 for the year in the PBC area, a paltry number when you consider the species that have been seen this year, but I have been either away, or unable to get away from work when these other birds have been seen and they have not lingered. Hopefully, I will reach 170, but time is against me.

The White-fronted goose is the most common European goose, with over 36,000 wintering in Britain and Ireland. They tend to spend the winter in the south of England ( East Anglia and Kent ) and the west, particularly the Severn and Swale estuaries. There are two races of this goose, the European one (the one at Ferry Meadows) and the Greenland race, which tend to winter around Wexford in Ireland.