One good thing about the weather we've been having lately is that is can bring some birds into the area that we wouldn't normally expect to see. Today was all about geese. After some interesting sightings over the last couple of days, I decided to get out and see how many geese were around the lakes. Most numerous, as always, were the Canadas and greylags, with counts of 177 and 153 respectively. The numbers include two hybrid birds that have been around for a few years. As there parents are greylag and Canadas, we call them 'Grenadas'.
The star turn was the flock of Europen White-fronted gesse. There has been a small flock building up over the last couple of days, but this morning there were 63 - a very good count for this part of the world. Many European white-fronted geese overwinter in the Netherlands and it is likely that this is where our birds have come from. It's a bit of a pity that they're not actually on RSPB land, favouring the grass fields across the river to the north of Ferry Lagoon. However, it's likely that they are roosting on the lakes, so we're still claiming them!
The fourth species of goose seen today was pink-footed. Two birds have been around for over a week now - they probably overshot the mark when heading into north Norfolk and flew along the valley from the Wash. They are quite mobile, so careful scanning of the greylag flocks is required to pick them up.
Smew numbers have dropped dramatically since the weekend, with only two redheads being seen today. This is hardly surprising given how heavily frozen the lakes are - we estimate only 2% of open water remains. The bitterns are travelling further afield in search of food. For the last few days, they have been seen heading out to the river, where the moving water is keeping the ice at bay - one bird seems to be moving regularly between the river and Ferry Lagoon. Numbers seem to be down from our peak at the beginning of the month, but there are probably still three or four around.
Merry Chritmas!