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

Lincolnshire. Innit.

Every year around the time of mother dearest's Birthday the pair of us take a day out and go for a jolly birdwatching somewhere different - e.g. not Rutland Water! Today we headed to Lincolnshire, the home of Skegvegas and where potatoes are known as "tates".

To be precise we went to the two F's - Frampton Marsh and Freiston Shore. Frampton Marsh was the first port of call and although it let me down by having precisely zero Pratincoles the reserve itself looked very good, the hides were modern and the staff in the visitors centre were most helpful in telling us what was around. Unfortunately the Spoonbill appeared to have done a runner but spirits were lifted by such things as two Bewicks Swans, a few Whitefronted Geese, single Barnacle Goose and heaps of Brent Geese.  Most of the expected waders and wildfowl were present also so I wont bore you with a long list of common species so instead look at the images:

Redshank

Blackwit.

Curlew

Skylark

Brent Geese anyone?

Close flyover

Ah, the posting of the flyover image reminds me of an amusing anecdote from today which I shall now share with you lucky, lucky people. It was during one of these close flyovers from a group of geese that I felt a large drop of liquid hit me just above my left eye. I was sure I had been shat on as there wasn't a cloud in the sky but luckily I hadn't - all I can think of is that a water droplet fell off one of the geese and smashed me in the face. At least it wasn't a poo.

So after a spot of luncheon we headed onto Freiston shore where a walk down to where the sea defences have been intentionally breached produced a trio of raptors (Peregrine, Marsh Harrier and Merlin) and helped nail a few waders for the day list that had been hiding until this point (Grey Plover, Turnstone, Oystercatcher). Infact, the only downside of the place was the injured Pink footed Goose that was lingering close to the car park in the hope of bread based nourishment: