Red breasted Goose etc.

 So, September ended with a big dip. Oh well, its one of those things. How would October fare...

Sunday 1st October was a lovely fine autumn day here. Dawning quite cool but warming up later on.

John and myself took a trip up to Elwick on the Lindisfarne Reserve to look for the Red breasted Goose that has been hanging around with the large geese flocks for a few days.

We wandered up the track knowing from experience that the geese here are usually quite mobile and as we arrived at the end, this was certainly the case. Flock after flock of Barnacle Geese were leaving a distant field to our right and flying across our vision to land, unseen in a field, two to our left. Each flock was scrutinised in nice morning light as they passed, without luck. 

The view we had as geese flocks flew left at the end of this field. Holy Island lies beyond the flats.

We decided to try to get a view of the geese over to the left so we stalked close to the hedge, into a dip, to peer into the next field. The ground was wallpapered in Black and White. A 'magic-eye' illusion of Barnacle Geese greeted us with birds still arriving. The problem was, we were too close. We stopped, scarcely daring to breathe and quietly scanned through. No joy. We waited. In the distance from Holy Island causeway I saw another few hundred geese strung out in the air heading our way. As they whiffled down to the ground we had another scan. There, only about 100 mrs away, right on the front in full sunshine a stunning adult Red breasted Goose, probably the first with good credentials since the 1800s in Northumberland. It had arrived with a small flock of Brents from high to the east originally before moving in with the Barnacle Geese to feed. What a belter, and I had left my camera in the car thinking the geese would be too far off.

As it happened, that was irrelevant. No sooner had we seen the target, a farmer on a quad drove straight into the field putting 3000+ geese to flight right over our heads. The sound was incredible. I've seen lots of goose flocks into many many thousands across the UK but have never experienced such noise from wings and voice only 50 feet above me. It was truly awesome.

As we watched the mass head back to the fields they originally came from, we scanned and scanned but couldn't pick up the Red breast. It was here a twist occurred. As we looked, I noticed an Egret coming off the flats towards us mobbed by crows. I couldn't say I'd seen that before, so I just put the scope on them. The Egret had a bright crocus yellow carrot pushed into its mush - it was a Cattle Egret! This was only my 2nd in the county and my first self found. These may be tame fare on the Avalon Marshes but up here they're still hens teeth.  We watched as the Cattle Egret lowered its undercarriage and glided over a hedge appearing to land unseen. We went to investigate.

From our new vantage point, we never did see the Egret again but we could see the geese. It took about half a dozen scans before the Red breasted Goose was picked out. Now at comfortable distance we could scope it feeding with Barnacles and showing how such a colourful harlequin could be camouflaged in the monochrome sea of wildfowl.

Two great county birds UTB by breakfast, excellent.

A stop at Budle Bay for our tea and snacks had a lot of birds but just the usuals. Highlight was probably 35 Shovelers.

On to Monk's House Pool of Ennion fame where there had been an American Golden Plover. Unfortunately most of the flock had departed leaving only 115 Eurasian Goldies to scan through.

Still not a bad day, RBG is no 363 on my county list and only my 2nd ever. 

Cattle Egret field notes.

Red breasted Goose field Notes

A worked up version of the Red breasted Goose back home.

Gold and some Barnacles....

Winter Aconites and Snowdrops at Denwick Curch.

On Sunday morning John and I headed North towards Lindsifarne.

First stop was Stag Rocks to scour the sea for sea duck, grebes, divers etc. We had exactly - nothing. No birds on the sea except one Red breasted Merganser and I missed that. A few smart sum plum Herring Gulls flew N along the rock edges.

Down at Budle Bay, the wintering Spotted Redshank was calling hard as it ran around the nearest creek. A lot of birds were on the bay, with 400+ Brent Geese, 142+ Shelduck, many Wigeon, 6 Shoveler, 18 Ringed Plover, hundreds of Teal and a tightly packed roost of 150+ Redshank .

I fancied a walk so we moved up to Elwick and wandered across a few fields then along the bund on the S edge of Fenham Flats. This is a magnificent, huge , open area with thousands of feeding birds, it was difficult to know where to start.  There were 600+ Barnacle Geese inc 2 white ones, 75+ Pink footed Geese, 600+ Brent Geese, 340+ Shelduck, 84+ Grey Plover, uncountable Wigeon, Mallard and Teal, 1 Little Egret, 6 Meadow Pipit, 1 Buzzard, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Fox, 2 Roe Deer and a Hare.

Prize though must go to the swirling mass of barking Barnacles as they flew over head. Magnificent!

On the way back home, Denwick Church yard Winter Aconites were such a spectacle I just had to turn the car around and stop for a photo or two. I cant resist these every winter, a fore runner of spring unsprung....

The Lindisfarne Elwick Barnacle Geese were superb...