The indulgence today was targeted at the Red Breasted Goose at Loaningfoot with the added bonus of a Todd's Canada Goose to boot. On arrival at Loaningfoot there were hundreds of Barnacles circling in the sky but by the time I had driven on to the minor road and parked up they had settled again with several thousand of their kin in an adjacient field. An awesome sight, but where does one start to locate two single Geese in all that. After about an hour of scanning I had seen nothing. My only compensation being a year tick in the form of a small flock of wheezing Twite. I gave up and headed to Carsethorn for a look at the merse. Aside from a handful of Great Crested Grebe it was very disappointing and certainly no sign of an Scaup that in my experience are reliable from here.
Back at Loaningfoot the Geese had moved and were now largely out of sight down behind the farm. Moving on to Mersehead I scanned a few hundred Barnies from the approach road more in hope than expectation although there was a single leucistic bird present. From the Bruich hide a Drake Green Winged Teal showed well as did several pairs of Pintail, Shelduck and Gadwall.
There was nothing else for it other than to try at Loaningfoot again. The Geese were still below the farm but I noticed a road that I had previously thought was a farm track going down towards the Geese. 2 birders advised that both the Todd's and the RB Goose were present. Because of its brown back, the former was fairly easy to pick out in the huge flock. I was surprised how big it was in comparison to the Barnies ! Eventually after lots of scanning I saw the Red Breasted for all of about 5 seconds before it merged back in behind the Barnacles again. Despite now knowing the area it was in I could not locate it again. It was a very frustrating bird. With a bright red breast you would think it would stand out but it absolutely does not.
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| Think I'll be seeing these in my sleep tonight ! |
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