Eventually

You would think it would stand out like a new shilling in a sweeps … well … pocket; but it didn’t. An all white goose among the many grey geese in North Norfolk this year should have been easier to locate. No matter where we searched for the Lesser Snow Goose floating around Norfolk among the 10,000 or so Pink footed Geese it just didn’t materialise. We played hide and seek for hours and couldn’t find it no matter how hard we tried.

The search starts with harvested sugar beet fields. The geese just love the sweet taste of those sugar beet tops. When we found a good field and then returned to it the following week we discovered it had been ploughed. Tut. However a tip off (thank you Pete) that it had been around Egmere in mid Norfolk saw us giving it a go. Sighting skeins of Pinks  in the distance and watching them land we soon found the flock and there … eventually … at the back of the field was the white goose we’d been seeking.

I’d only just crept around the back of the car to get the camera out and the geese were flushed by the farmer. Double Tut. I managed to get a few flight shots but would have liked for us to see it for longer. No matter how many more fields we looked in we just couldn’t relocate it. I suppose we’ll cross paths again as it will probably be around all winter. Who knows it may even fly over Falcon Cottage at some point … plenty of Pinkfeet do!

Another Wild Goose Chase

The other week news of a Lesser Snow Goose in North Norfolk had us searching the flocks of Pinkfeet for the pale American. Geese kept tumbling out of the air in small flocks from tens to hundreds; each individual being scrutinised carefully as they landed. We thought the field where they were gathering would burst at the seams … and still they kept on coming. Throughout the day we estimated we’d seen around 10,000 geese. This has to be one of the most impressive wildlife spectaculars within the UK.

A Buzzard flew over that gave more than one of us the impression of a Rough legged. Not this time unfortunately. There was a split second, as we crept along a hedgerow to see the flock in the corner of the field, when I thought I’d found the Snow Goose. A pale goose took to the air among the mayhem of birds. It was in fact a leucistic Pinkfoot. Where had that been hiding?

We never did find the Snow Goose. I’m sure however it’ll be around somewhere.

Pale tailed Buzzards can catch you out!

As can pale Pinkfeet – if only for a second.