And we're off

It was quite nice to wake up this morning not having to worry too much as my yearlisting doesn't start until tomorrow with the first visit to the patch. Probably a good job really as the New Year cocktails had left their mark...!

First bird of the year was a marsh tit on the feeders outside the window but even better was a red deer hind that was feeding on buddleia only 3ft from the window.

Its was a cracking day so we headed to the Minsmere beach with the boys. The sea was pretty quiet with only a couple of close red throated divers.

The big boys were then allowed to go off and do some birding on their own. The South Levels were very flooded and as a result had loads of wildfowl on them. Most were teal, wigeon and pintail but there was 5 Tundra bean geese, 2 brent geese and an adult yellow-legged gull to add interest. 3 redhead smew were on  the Scrape on the way back.

Final species on the morning was this cave spider in a shed by the visitor centre!!

Geese were the order of the day with a trip out to North Warren. Although it was an impressive sight it is a shame that all the barnacle geese are all feral and can't be counted which can also be said for the 4 red breasted geese that were present. 3 of the birds were adults and have been in the area for a few years but the third, a 1st winter, has only turned up recently and is being mooted as wild, don't think it will be going on the list yet....
The rest of the 'wild' geese were showing really well from the path with 100+ white fronts, single 1st winter pink foot and an adult Tundra bean.

Final birds of the day were 7 (4 adult) Bewick's swans just on the edge of the reserve. A pretty good start to the year but bring on the patch!