Wild Geese

With reports of a flock of 18 European Whitefronts accompanied by a single Tundra Bean Goose at Wanlip gravel pits yesterday I made my way over this morning with the hope of life ticking the Bean Goose and county ticking the Whitefronts. Aided and abetted by the excellent directions on the Lros and Drunkbirder pages I found the site quickly but was greeted by negative news from two birders coming the other way who had seen the birds fly up and drop down out of view.
With hopes suddenly dashed I carried on anyway and found a birder viewing the general area the birds had been seen last and joined him in case they came back. About half an hour later we were joined by a third birder who almost immediately picked up a candidate for the Bean goose right on the edge of a Canada flock about three quarters of a mile away, and after discovering 17 of the Whitefronts on the other side of the flock the potential Bean stood up and walked to join them, showing off its lovely orange legs as a rare bit of light hit the flock (aided by the generous offer of a peek down a 60x eyepiece). I think the term "stonking" or perhaps "fucking ace" is appropriate here.

Terrible record shot (if you can even call it that) of the Bean - its the one on the right!

Similarly poor record shot of the Whitefronts