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Saturday 3 December 2011

Goosander

With the influx of geese that took place last month it was no surprise when 3+ Tundra Beans were found amongst a flock of c400 Pinkfeet which yesterday took up temporary residence near Northrepps. Although they were fairly distant they were still nice to see and given their previous extreme scarceness on the patch, still a very notable occurrence despite the numbers present this year.

Today saw me head down to Felbrigg lake to see if the Goosander which had been reported yesterday was still there, and after a bit of scanning I eventually found it asleep up against the far bank. Despite a number of walkers going round the lake it didn't seem that bothered so I made my way round to get a closer look and of course the obligatory snap of it.


Whilst watching it my attention was suddenly grabbed by something small whizzing across the surface of the water out of the corner of my eye, my immediate thought was Kingfisher but swinging round I was surprised to see it was actually a bat!

Over the next ten or so minutes I watched as it fed back and forth low over the waters surface obviously feeding on insects before it eventually disappeared up into the trees and presume it was having a bit of a feed up either ready for hibernation or just maybe because the overnight rain had prevented it from feeding last night, but still a great sight in broad daylight especially given the time of year and it not being particularly mild either.


 
This Heron was quietly stalking fish amongst the 'Mandarin trees', although there was no sign of the latter there, and back at the car the resident Little Owl was watched in its usual area of trees and a few Bramblings were also noted.