Barnacle Goose.

Earlier this month I posted about encountering a surprise visitor on my local patch pond so here are a few more images of the Barnacle Goose (Branta leucopsis).

Barnacle Geese breed in the Arctic from Greenland east to the Baltic and Novaya Zemlya and move south in the winter. Those coming to Britain are mostly found on the north and west coasts.
The earliest record in Surrey (UK) is an individual that was shot near Elstead, Surrey in 1849. There have been a handful of sightings in the county since 1900 that would appear to relate to migrant birds. [Birds of Surrey - J.J.Wheatley]

Several populations of feral birds, derived from escapees, now exist in southern England, so it is difficult to establish whether any sighting is a true migrant as they are often seen in the company of Canada or Greylag Geese. This individual was also seen in the company of a pair of Greylag Geese.

Whatever its origins it was a delight to see when it visited the Great Pond, Epsom Common on 12th March.  FAB.

Linking to  Wild Bird Wednesday.

Patch Surprise.

During my regular patch walks when I reach the bottom of these steps that lead up to the Great Pond I have no idea what I might find (unless the wildlife is talkative) so there is always an anticipation that something different might be on the water or lurking in the surrounding vegetation.

Yesterday morning the only sounds were those of Mallard talking and Coot scolding one another and on reaching the top of the embankment a quick scan only produced the aforementioned species plus Moorhen, two Canada Geese and a distant male Teal. My initial thoughts were that this visit would be a waste of time BUT a further scan of the waterside vegetation produced two unusual visitors including a first sighting for the patch.

A pair of Greylag Geese were accompanied by a single Barnacle Goose but they were obviously wary of any intruder and floated away to the far end of the pond. I then spent over an hour stalking quietly around the perimeter, peering through the branches and eventually managed a few frames to record this very unusual sighting. More images to follow in a future post. FAB.

Linking to Good Fences.

Fences and Flyers.

A few more images from my recent visit to Farlington Marshes incorporating the fences and some of the flying species that occupy this landscape. Linking to Good Fences hosted by TexWisGirl.

Miles of barbed wire fencing erected to segregate the different habitats around this reserve also helps to contain cattle used to manage the grazing areas and to deter us two legged beings from trespassing. 

Meadow Pipit hanging on tightly.

Dark-bellied Brent Geese. 

Black-headed Gull looking for somewhere to land.

Barnacle Geese (part of a 28 strong flock)

My view over the reed bed where most of the in-flight shots were taken. FAB.

To view the previous post images also taken during this visit please click HERE and Here.

Birding Farlington Marshes.

As a continuation to 'Geese Galore', which focused on the over-wintering migrant geese that take up residence in Langstone Harbour, this post will highlight just a few of the 53 species logged during last Sunday's visit to Farlington Marshes.

When I arrived at 9 am after a 56 mile drive the high tide was on the turn but there were still small groups of Brent Geese on the water.

Brent Geese (Branta bernicla ssp. bernicla).

Whilst most of the waders, including Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Avocet, Turnstone, Dunlin, Oystercatcher and Grey Plover were feeding way out in the harbour on the slowly expanding areas of mud I did manage to locate a lonesome (Common) Redshank close by the sea-wall.

Redshank (Tringa totanus).

Once the party of a dozen birders from the Surrey Bird Club were assembled we commenced our anti-clockwise circuit of the 153 hectares of Farlington Marshes by following the track around the seawall. 

After scanning the harbour and adding Mallard, Shelduck, Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler, Pintail, Little Egret and the usual Gull species our attention turned to the nearby pool.


With typically high water levels at this time of year there weren't many waders present, just a few Godwit and Dunlin but we added Grey Heron, Little Grebe, Coot, Moorhen, Gadwall and one of my favourite winter ducks the Northern Pintail with the males sporting their elegant breeding plumage. I also located a Snipe hiding in the grass, bobbing slightly as it moved, but it turned out to be just the common variety!

Northern Pintail (Anus acuta).

I have previously mentioned that this site is internationally important as it plays host to particularly large populations of the Dark-bellied Brent Goose, Black-tailed Godwit and Dunlin.

Some of the Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits can be seen wearing coloured rings in various combinations on the tibia  (above the ‘knee’ joint) and the tarsus (below the ‘knee’ joint), and each scheme has one ring of a particular colour in a constant position. The Farlington Ringing Group plays an important role in this and you can find out more about the coding and schemes here. 

Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa).

As you can see it can be difficult to clearly identify all the rings on some individuals especially when they are walking in the water but every sighting record submitted helps to build up a picture of each bird's location history. One of our group diligently documented our combined sightings.

During a visit here in January 2009 I digiscoped my first colour ringed BTG and you can see the images and some of its life its history in a previous post entitled 'Godwit Sighting History'.

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta).

One of a handful of Little Egrets seen searching for a meal during our walk. Amazing to recall that any sighting 26 years ago was considered a rare event.

Herring Gull

After one full circuit my colleagues walked back to their vehicles for lunch but I decided to spend some time wandering along the stream to capture some flight shots and while scanning the extensive adjacent reed bed two Bearded Reedlings zipped in and out of view and a Cetti's Warbler called from a nearby shrub.

I also obtained a few shots of Gulls and Shelduck flying to and from the harbour.

Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna).

Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus).

Every now and then the flock of Lapwings took flight, probably disturbed by over-flying noisy helicopters, and so distinctive with their two tone wing pattern, shape and shrill 'pwaay-eech' call.

Very surprisingly the only raptor I spotted was a hovering Kestrel. 

Further round the circuit a small flock of Linnets passed overhead. Skylarks were heard and then two seen chasing one another. Stonechats popped into view at several spots.

With the tide receding further we had distant scoped views of Common Ringed Plover, Great Crested Grebe, Goldeneye and several pairs of Red-breasted Merganser.

The grazing marsh was, of course, littered with hundreds of Brent Geese (up to 4,000 recently recorded on site), 28 Barnacle Geese, and numerous Shelduck plus a few Tufted Ducks amoungst all the other duck species already logged.
 

Barnacle and Brent Geese.

After some six hours of glorious coastal birding under a chilly winter sun I had added a dozen species to my year list to take the total to 101. So with final views of the Barnacle and Brent Geese in flight it was time to wend my weary way home.  FAB.

Linking to:
Saturday's Critters 
I'D-Rather-B-Birdin' 
Wild Bird Wednesday 

Geese Galore.

One of my favourite south coast locations during the winter is Farlington Marshes to enjoy the spectacle of the thousands of geese that migrate here from the high arctic.

The main focus of a brief mid-week visit was on the dark-bellied form of  Brent Geese (Branta bernicla ssp. bernicla) that take up residence on the 125 hectares of grazing marsh. Throughout the day, depending on the tide conditions, they constantly commute in varying flock numbers between the harbour and the grazing marshes feeding on eel grass their preferred food.

They constantly chat to one another ... a low pitched gargling guttural sound.
  

For a decent close (see below) up I searched through my archives. (Taken at the same site in 2012)

On Sunday I made another visit with the Surrey Bird Club (SBC), initially under a cloudy sky that eventually brightened up, which allowed good views of the Brent Geese plus 53 other species including a flock of 28 Barnacle Geese (Branta leucopsis) another arctic breeding species.

Barnacle Geese flying over with a single, slightly smaller, Brent Goose (bottom right) in the lead.

Unfortunately these geese were only feeding in the centre of the grazing marsh so for a close up (below) I hunted through my recent archives (taken at the London Wetland Centre).  FAB.

Linking to Nature Notes and Wild Bird Wednesday.

Norfolk Review (Part 4) - Pensthorpe Wildlife Park

Day 6 saw us visiting Pensthorpe Wildlife Park, near Fakenham.

Lots of interesting areas to encourage the large number of school children who were also visiting including the 'Bug Trail'. As you can see some of the specimens were far larger than expected!

There was clear evidence everywhere that the BBC Springwatch was in residence; hides on the scrape occupied by wildlife cameramen monitoring the breeding Avocets and Little Ringed Plovers; seat and bridges with posters stating 'BBC Property - Not for Public Use'; camera and sound system with its own brolly top being set up over the stream plus many visitors eagerly scanned any occupied vehicle moving around the park in case it contained a well known personality!

Evidence that some breeding species have been very successful this season; Canada and Greylag Geese...

.....AND an Oystercatcher with chick nesting in the water garden which was cordoned off.

No excuses for showing more images of one of my favourites....Barnacle Geese.

Plus masses of Ox-eye Daises everywhere.

I must admit that I didn't stop to take many pics of the 'collection' species apart from a few in the 'endangered' pens but I'll leave them for a quiet moment sometime in the future.  If you haven't visited it is certainly worth making the effort if you are in the vicinity of Fakenham. I can definitely recommend the very reasonably priced on site catering. I ordered traditional sausages and mash which was served up with an unexpected additional side dish containing peas, green beans, carrots and red cabbage..delicious.   FAB.

Back from Norfolk and Suffolk.

We are back  from a two week camping trip to windy Norfolk and Suffolk where we saw 111 species and I added Little Gull, Nightjar, Woodcock, Grey Partridge, Golden Oriole (heard only), Stone Curlew, Pectoral Sandpiper plus Pink Flamingo (of unknown origin!) to my 2010 year list which now totals 154. We enjoyed many walks and had a handful of sightings of flying Bitterns and numerous encounters, albeit at some distance, of Marsh Harriers including watching food passes plus Nightingales feeding their newly fledged youngsters. 

To keep things ticking over, while I put together a series of posts of the locations that we visited, here are a few images.   

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba)

Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)

Black-headed Gull (Chroicoephalus ridibundus).

Apart from Woodpigeons these gulls were the most numerous and noisiest of all the species we saw!

Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)

Working boat leaving Walberswick.

This was my first return visit to this location for many many years so I took a series of shots along the river, including the famous ferry, in the hope my friend Steve in Cape Ann, MA. who has a particular passion for his local waterfront will be interested but he'll have to be patient while I sort through all the images for a future post.

Barnacle Geese (Branta leucopsis).

This shot was taken at Pensthorpe Wildlife Park where breeding has been very sucessful this year. 

Immature Coot (Fulica atra)

Juvenile Starling (Sturus vulgaris)

Ox-eye Daisies enjoying the the sunshine (we did have some!)

After two weeks of neglect and dry weather the garden is in urgent need of attention and I need to get out and about locally but I hope to bring you some more sights from our holiday very soon......FAB.