This morning's wildfowl walk at North Warren was a full house: 13 eager birdwatchers joined me on a windswept Aldeburgh beach for a three hour stroll in search of geese and ducks.
It started off so well, but turned into somewhat of a wild goose chase.
Scanning from the car park, we were treated to the usual array of dabbling ducks: hundreds of wigeons, good numbers of gadwalls, shovelers and pintails, but fewer than usual teals. Among them were a few lapwings, cormorants and an assortment of gulls (no sign of the recent glaucous or Caspian gulls though).
Retreating from the wind a little, we watched from a gateway closer to the marshes, and were rewarded with excellent views of 10 tundra bean geese. Feeding with greylags, they were easy to pick out, being darker, smaller and lacking the huge orange bill of their feral cousins. When three flew, the contrast between the pale wings of the greylags and much darker beans was clear even without binoculars, despite them being about 200 metres away.
It was a fantastic start, as we often struggle to find the bean geese and they weren't seen on a count by the warden yesterday. However, perhaps I should have known better than to say "that makes my life easier; we've found the hardest bird." Wrong! Wrong! and thrice wrong!
Bouyed by such a good start, we continued northward along the beach, wind on our backs. Crossing the marshes beside the sluice cottage, the full strength of that south-westerly was noticeable, and perhaps helped explain why there were no geese close by. Instead, we enjoyed excellent views of rooks, jackdaws and lapwings; and of the koniks on south marsh. The only geese I could find were very distant barnacles, and I realised that a long walk might be in order.
The shelter of the old railway line was very welcome - it certainly made chatting to the group a little easier. North Marsh was alive with birds: Dave counted a reserve record 276 pintails yesterday and they were very prominent. It wasn't just ducks though, as at least 200 black-tailed godwits wheeled around, disturbed by our arrival as they were feeding so close to the path. Among them were several curlews, and I spotted a lovely male ruff, his orange legs standing out even without any sunshine.
Sharp eyes from one of the group spotted a couple of water pipits feeding close by. When they flew, we counted an impressive eight of these often hard to see birds - a first for many of the group. Another sharp eyed birdwatcher found a ringed plover among a few dunlins paddling throguh the shallow floodwater in search of food. But still no geese!
After a long hike along the old railway line, it was with much relief that I eventually found five white-fronted geese. But where were the other 500 that Dave had seen on Thursday? Their distinctive calls alerted me to the arrival of another flock. Relief turned to more frustration as just five more dropped in. Oh, the joys and unpredictability of birdwatching. Scanning through the barnacle geese, however, we did also find one of the red-breasted geese, which with two Canada geese nearby took our goose tally to six. Not too bad in the end.
Feeling happier, we returned to the cars, adding sparrowhawk (for some) and redwings in the caravan site. I then headed to thorpeness Mere to check for the great white egret, of which there was no sign. A pair of Egyptian geese were a slight consolation though.
Despite the lack of white-fronts, North Warren still turned up the goodies, and it continues to look superb. Why not join me on Sat 19th for the last walk of the winter there?