White-fronted Geese at Abberton Reservoir

4th January 2020

Our first outing of the year and what better place to start than Abberton Reservoir. The Layer de la Haye causeway was quite busy with a number birders scanning the flock of Aythya ducks in the north-west corner in search of the Scaup and Ring-necked Duck. Unfortunately they were far too far away for any photos so we started by looking over the east bank.......at a Swallow!! How bizarre is that?

A rather tame Common Gull was sitting on the sluice railings, just loafing around with the odd wing-stretch, and a lone Pied Wagtail was feeding long the water's edge of the newly constructed concrete bank.

It was fairly quiet on the wader front apart from the usual party of skittish Lapwings which spooked at the slightest opportunity and a small party of Redshank which were fairly active across the reservoir.

Goldeneye numbers were well down compared to previous winters and the couple of males that were present kept there distance. Luckily a 1st Winter male preferred the shallower water and came close for some shots.

With it was a red-head Smew which was equally obliging. These can be quite close at the Layer Breton causeway when they feed by the reed-bed, but the light is so much better here.

As is often the case these days now that they have re-built the sluice, Goosanders were coming close in to feed on the shoals of small Perch that shelter inside the sluice. The males are just stunning.

The females cannot compete on the plumage stakes, but are still photogenic in their subtle pastel shades.

But for me the stars today were the White-fronted Geese for totally sentimental reasons. I saw my first ever White-fronted Goose at Abberton some 50 years ago, and I haven't seen another here since. All those years ago they were feeding in the field at the north-west end of the Layer Breton causeway. Today they were at the opposite end of the causeway but were settled on the water towards the Sand Martin bank.

After half an hour they took off and eventually landed in the field at the south-west end of the causeway and began to feed. Luckily they had landed in front of a sizeable flock of Greylags otherwise they would have been out of view. I managed to get some shots before the sun disappeared behind the clouds.

I often complain about helicopters and light aircraft flying low over bird reserves and putting everything up, but today it worked to my advantage. A helicopter flew across the site disturbing the White-fronts which proceeded to do a couple of laps before returning to the water.  This provided a rare opportunity for some close-up flight shots

How good is that?