Past couple of nights on patch...

A text through the week from BD and a Facebook message from Jack notified me of an Egyptian Goose amongst the regulars at Holywell, at Uni until Thursday I couldn't get down for a look till Friday evening.


Walking down to the pond at about 16:00, a westerly breeze pushed some low cloud over towards the coast, the West Field held a reasonable amount of geese, although no Egyptian, 97 Greylag, 9 Pink-Footed, 1 European White-Fronted, 7 Canada and 1 CanadaXGreylag were present. Moving on to the pond, past the now common sound of Tree Sparrows, 6 Shelduck, 7 Mallard, 3 pair Gadwall, Pochard (2 female, 3 male), Tufted Duck (3 male, 3 female), and 2 Mute Swan were on the water.


Leaving the hide at about 16:20 I had a quick scan of the geese again, straight away I picked out the Egyptian Goose, must of snook in behind me! Good views were had as it ventured closer to the hedge-line, before flying West into the next field with the majority of the Greylags. On towards the Dene I was pleased to find the Kestrels back at their nest site.

Today I've been down St Mary's with Jack, doing some filming for my Uni project. Reasonable numbers of waders were pushed into the North Bay as the tide came in, including 1 Purple Sandpiper. Once we'd finished for the day I headed out to Holywell, the 7 Canada, CanadaXGreylag, and 2 Pink-Footed Geese were present in the West Field, with much the same as yesterday on the pond, but also 6 Wigeon. Last stop was Red House Farm where at least 6 Tree Sparrows are still present, hopefully they may use the boxes I put up. Had great views of Long-Tailed Tits, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, and a Moorhen chasing a Brown Rat whilst I was there.

Wild Goose Chase

A belated post from yesterday. 


Taking part in the Lindisfarne count in the morning, struggling to stand, I joined MH and JD at Budle Bay with highlights of a single Greenshank, 2 Little Egret and an immature Peregrine. 


On returning back home I headed out in search of geese, firstly down the Beehive road to check the Hartley fields where the Pink-Footed Geese have been feeding in regularly, no sign. Passing Deleval Hall I picked up a Common Buzzard hanging over the wood. Hoping that the geese were in the West field I headed down to the members hide. My hopes were rewarded with what seemed to be a large number of geese, a high chance of a White-Front or Bean I thought. 


Instead of a Bean or White-Front catching my attention, 2 white geese did, Ross's Geese. In close company of 5 Barnacle Geese they were part of a larger 150+ Pink-Footed and 30+ Greylag. Unfortunately the geese lifted soon after and although the majority circled and landed again, the Ross's nor the Barnacle could be seen. A check of the surrounding fields prove fruitless, although an adult White-Fronted Goose was on the public shore, it seemed to have a bit of a limp.

Back to the hide to catch a few Starlings heading into the reeds to roost with BD, then a drive back to the Westside.


Today I've been up at Caerlaverock. An impressive number of Pintail on the sea being the highlight.