Ringed Brent Geese

Today I had no intention of going out as the morning had dawned under a thick clag of cloud. However, at lunch time the sun poked through so I loaded up the car and set off, it wasn't really a birding trip more of a recce. The large expanse of grass at West Wittering beach attracts numbers of Golden Plover and they come close when you use the car as a hide. I just wondered if any had turned up yet.

I had made the mistake of not checking the tide tables properly and I expected to see a high tide, when I reached East Head it was obvious that I had got it wrong. To make the best of it I parked up close to a bunch of Brent Geese enjoying the fresh water of the extensive puddles by the road. They were having a whale of a time, although inter-family squabbles were frequent.

I scanned the assembled flock, probably 300+ birds, and found 3 colour ringed birds. RANR, RDND and RANU. Having recorded these birds I made for home as the only other species present were Oystercatchers, Redshanks and Black-tailed Godwits. When I processed the photographs I realised that I had recorded both RANR and RANU in exactly the same place on the 21st December 2012 . See the blog!!

Just to clarify - RANU is Red (A) and Noir (U)  - B denotes Blue so Noir is used to avoid ambiguity.

If you happen to observe any colour ringed Brents then they can be recorded here

Another notable record for the day is that whilst I sat in the car I was "buzzed" by a very late Common Darter.

 

RDND

RANR

RANR - a good job RSNE wasn't about!!

RANU