The holiday season is upon me with my level of soccer taking a well earned break. Fingers are obviously crossed that we can return in the New Year but I guess that remains to be seen with the current levels of covid-19 infections sweeping across the country. I will continue to tick over on the training front but will have more time to zoom around the county should rarities turn up!
I keep an eye on the water meadows and the cress beds but have not had much to report in recent times. Last Xmas day I did have a White-fronted Goose on the water meadows.
Today’s excursion took me in search of winter wildfowl in the form of Tundra Bean Geese that had found their way onto a field within Upton Country Park. The three birds were quite relaxed feeding on the grass filled field.
I bumped into Peter Coe at the gates and during our ramblings (mostly mine!) the Whooper Swan at Longham Lakes was mentioned. The reserve is currently closed due to an outbreak of bird flu but geese including some Whitefronts could be viewed from a footpath near Hampreston Church.
My eyes lit up as Whooper Swan is another county tick for me and naturally Whitefronts are always a welcome sight. Pete kindly said he would show me where the birds were and off we went in convoy reaching the church mid-afternoon.
There were plenty of geese and swans in the field with the Whitefronts fairly easy to pick up during some long distance scanning. I picked up the Whooper Swan after a couple of searches through the Mute Swans. Peter jumped in with his supersonic camera and I took shots with my phone through the back screen.
A productive day with a couple of additions to the yearlist both of which were new species for my county tally! Thanks Pete!
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