Having missed out on seeing Tundra Bean Geese on our trip to Suffolk and on my visit to Slimbridge I decided to give myself a pre-Christmas treat on Tuesday 22nd December and took a trip to Burnham On-Sea in Somerset where a Tundra Bean Goose has appeared with 2 juvenile Russian White-fronted Geese at a local park.
On arriving at Apex Park in Burnham I walked down to the lake and there they were, standing around on the concrete slipway in the company of 6 Greylag Geese.
Incredibly tame and approachable down to a few feet as they came to feed on bread and grain being thrown to them by passers by, I spent a very enjoyable hour watching them in what was a rather plastic fantastic type moment.
Presumably they are wild birds that have become lost from their parent flock and have adopted the feral Greylag Geese as their new cohort, learning their feral ways and lack of fear of humans but an absolute delight to see so close to.
They arrived at the beginning of November, much earlier than the influx of both Tundra Bean Geese and Russian White-fronted Geese into the UK at the end of November and it will be interesting to see what happens to them in the spring - will they migrate back east or over summer here and if they migrate will they return next winter? Or are they just plastic fantastic?
Having seen the geese so well and so easily I decided to head back towards Plymouth and stop off at Exwick for another torture session with the elusive and skulky Dusky Warbler still present by the River Exe. I didn't see the bird although I did have a very brief view of a small warbler flicking its wings deep down in the undergrowth and appearing to have a long and distinct eye stripe before it disappeared never to be seen again. At least 3 Chiffchaffs showed better in the tangled branches including a pale looking Siberian type along with Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits.
2 Little Grebes, 2 Moorhen, a Grey Wagtail, 3 Stock Dove, a Redwing and 5 Canada Geese were also noted but the highlight was a Dipper flying downstream low over the water of a very swollen River Exe.
A nice trip despite being Dusky Warbler-less again and with Brent Geese seen along the River Exe at Starcross a five goose day out as well.
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