Knowing the roads would get busy later, I left home at 7.30 and drove through the dawn to Ludham. A small group of Taiga Bean Geese had been present there for a couple of days and - given that the Buckenham flock failed to arrive this year - I thought it was worth a look.
Arriving at St Benets, I met Chris Lotz, a small-group bird tour leader: we searched the fields to the west of the concrete track, being joined by a pleasant young birder who'd recently moved up from London. No sign for a few minutes, but then - while imaging a group of Mute Swans - I saw the four Beans make a short 'hop' flight along a field edge and managed a few distant photos.
It was bitterly cold, so I moved on to Filby, parking in the nearly-full carpark in the woods. A scan of the two very distant duck flocks on Filby turned up two probable Ring-necked Ducks and a drake Red-crested Pochard lurking in the reed fringes.
I returned home by way of Halvergare, where four apparent Bean Geese flew in from the north: could they have been the Ludham group? A vast flock of Pinkfeet were feeding by the tin barn at Clippesby until a Marsh Harrier put them up.
No comments:
Post a Comment