White-fronted Geese

Lade - mild, wet and windy - As we bid our guests farewell at 2am this morning, roosting Starlings cackling away in the leylandii became our first bird of the year. With our New Year jaunt deferred until tomorrow we spent some time on the local patch where it was pretty much the same birds as yesterday, apart from a surprise in the form of five White-fronted Geese that flew in from the bay and headed inland. The Slavonian Grebe took a bit of finding as it hugged the main reed bed by the willow swamp, while the regular five Goldeneyes were amongst the common ducks on the lake. A Great White Egret lurked amongst the reeds and two Marsh Harriers battled into the wind behind the `mirrors`. The shorebird count was similar to yesterday.