More Surprises at Pett Level
1st March 2009, Sunday
Skeins of Brent Geese were travelling north above the murky sea this morning and a few Meadow Pipits starting to move as well, but also something quite extraordinary: at 09.25, a flock of 25 SNOW GEESE flew NE just offshore, calling, 3/4 dark morph birds amongst them. Where did they come from? Where were they going? You don’t get flocks of Snow Geese in Sussex, any more than you get King Eiders.
The odd individual turns up from time to time, always of suspect origin, but a flock? This size? the SOS website cites 14 at Pagham back in 1983. I’ve an idea that flocks of feral origin are a permanent fixture in Holland, but have been so far unable to track down any data.
Perhaps they will be picked up further east.
At low tide, gulls are blockading the mouth of a channel to ambush marine life making a break for the open sea. Beyond them is a gentleman extracting lugworms from their burrows in the sand with a vacuum pump, to use them as fishing bait. Beyond him is a bait-digger using the more traditional narrow spade.
And shortly after that, all the gulls went up off the beach in response to 1…3…and finally 4 Marsh Harriers soaring way up over the sea, against the pearly sky. These however glided back to land after a few minutes.
otherwise, singing Skylarks and Reed Buntings, 3 Green Sandpipers, 5 Little Egrets and1/2 Kingfishers along the canal.
They might be white, but they are Mute Swans rather than Snow Geese.