Carrow Road - Destination of woe
Distant geese
Rather closer Wigeon
Wigeon
Snapped by my youngest
That's quite enough
There really wasn't any need to gloat
The New year football fixtures took us to Norwich City on Saturday to see our beloved Saints. Whilst the football matched the weather, truly shocking 1-0 loss, I did manage to see a number of good species.
We saw two Red Kites when going through Northampton and we took advantage of the location to visit Buckenham Mashes. Located 8 miles south of the football ground it was an ideal place to head with the Taiga Bean Geese as the speciality.
After crossing the railway line I was soon scanning for the Taiga Been Geese. I did locate a flock of 30+ White-fronted Geese and 50+ Pink-footed Geese which are apparently unusual at the site (according to local birder ?) but the long grass and poor light made viewing difficult and photography impossible. This didn't stop my youngest taking a few snaps to amuse himself. Bean Geese were clearly not his cup of tea.
There were not as many Wigeon from when I visited previously however I found there were a large number on the canal rather than the meadows. When reaching the view point (that is slightly raised) it was perfect to scan again and after a great deal of searching I found two Beans with the White fronts in the long grass. The Taiga's are bigger birds, have longer dark necks and more colour that makes them stand out from the white-fronts & pinkies. Apparently the marsh used to host flocks of 100+ in 1930's however this years count has only been around 20.
Other sightings included two Marsh Harrier, Peregrine, a dodgy Snow Goose, many Lapwing, two Shelduck and 30 Barnacle Geese.
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