If you've ever wanted to go on a genuine wild goose chase, there's nowhere better in Suffolk than RSPB North Warren in mid winter, and this year ha been exceptionally good.
A recent count (31 Dec) of 800 European white-fronted geese is not only a reserve record count, but the hightest count ever in Suffolk - by quite some way! It's likely that many have been pushed west from Holland or Denmark by the recent cold weather.
Among the white-fronts, we usually expect to find a few tundra bean geese, and this year's count has reached an impressive 12. OK, not many, but this is the rarest regularly occurring goose in the UK, and the tundra race only regularly occurs at North Warren and two or three other locations. (The taiga race, rossicus, as pictured in link, occurs in the Yare Valley and Central Scotland, and is very rare elsewhere, but four are currently on the Suffolk coast at RSPB Boyton Marshes.) Picking 12 birds out from the white-front throng can be a challenge, especially if they are hidden in hollows or behind clumps of reed, but it's a very enjoyable challenge.
These are pink-footed geese - rare on the Suffolk coast, but present among the varied throng of geese at North Warren. Photo by Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)
The challenge is made even harder by the large flocks of feral geese too - greylags, Canadas and barnacle geese oll occur in three figure counts.
Add to that the other geese that have been at North Warren in recent weeks - pink-footed (rare in Suffolk, unlike the vast flocks in Norfolk), dark-bellied brent, pale-bellied brent (v rare in Suffolk), red-breasted (up to five presumed escapees) and Egyptian, and we've seen ten varieties of nine species of goose at North Warren this winter. Not many places can compare with that.
Why not join me on a wild goose chase? I'm leading three winter wildfowl guided walks over the next six weeks - 15 Jan, 5 Feb and 19 Feb (all Saturdays) - starting at 9.30 am. If you would like to join me, please call the Minsmere visitor centre on 01728 648281 to reserve your place.
We won't just be watching geese either. Huge flocks of ducks include almost 3000 wigeons, plus good numbers of teals, pintails and shovelers and a few gadwalls. Lapwings, curlews, black-tailed godwits and snipe may be feeding in the flooded marshes, where flocks of ringed plovers and dunlins sometimes roost at high tide.
Other goodies to look out for include marsh and hen harriers, sparrowhawk, peregrine or even merlin hunting over the marshes and spooking the ducks, creating a fantastic avian spectacle. Smaller birds might include skylarks, meadow and water pipits, linnets, stonechats and reed buntings, and there's always the chance of a fox strolling across the marshes.
What are you waiting for?