Bean Geested...

Post date: Jan 23, 2010 5:35:31 PM

A truely grotty day here weather-wise with grey mist interspersed with fine drizzle. During a couple of hours of 'limbo' in-between working on the house and going out this evening, caught with my guard down, I decided to go birding! Not birding whilst doing something else or going somewhere for another reason and stopping on the way through, no, this was birding, just for the sake of it! Heading towards Gunton on the North Walsham road, just south of Thorpe Market, I caught sight of what looked like a small group of geese on a big winter barley field. I was suitably suspicious of such a small group as to turn around and park precariously on the side of the road to 'scope them at a fair ole distance. They immediately struck as being fairly dark and their deep based, uniformly marked bills, with a coloured band behind the nail, left me to suspect that they were Tundra Bean Geese, nine of them. Unfortunately they were all just over the brow of the field, and at no time could I clinch the leg colour. Just as they were starting to move towards the brow a car went past and hit a rut, sounding like the puht of a gun, and they were off. To be fair, I ducked too, in fear of being the victim of a drive-by shooting in the middle of opposing goose finding gang warfare! Looking at my pics at home, and after comments from Dave A, a major goose botherer, I'm fairly confident that they were all Tundra's with at least one fairly noticeable in the pics. If anyone has got any opinions on any of the birds shown I'd be grateful of the feedback.