Wild Goose Chase
Saturday January 31 I've always tried to see all the winter geese in January, a solid start to the year's birding. As suspected, Taiga Bean Geese no longer fly across the channel to the Yare Valley, their numbers have been diminishing for years. When I first moved to Norfolk, in 1974, a flock of over two hundred spent their winters here. Luckily, a random bird had attached itslf to a flock of Pinks and Barnacles, spending a few days at Wells North Point pools. We were still missing Tundra Bean Goose. At least four birds had been reported with a Pinks flock off Stone Lane. Buckenham. Pam found the flock - I couldn't even see them - at the far end of an enormous field. In addition, there was nowhere to park and scope. We moved on to Buckenham Marsh. Now that the level crossing is no longer gated and manned, many more people seem to have found their way down here. Still not in big numbers though, it's an open and shelterless place where the wind really cuts through one....