Five Shags and Lots of Geese

Sunday 1st February

Headed up to Castle Howard early doors. Five Shags, a colour-ringed adult, a second-winter and three first-winters (one of which is colour-ringed) were still present and looking pretty fit and healthy. They seem to spend their time roosting on the large low branches of the island trees, when not fishing. c100 Tufted Ducks, 30+ Goldeneyes, two Pochards, six Wigeon and ten Goosanders were present. Mistle Thrushes and a Cetti's Warbler were singing. 

Adult Shag, with Cormorant. This bird was colour-ringed, blue on left leg with code SBN

Whilst scanning the east end of the lake, I heard a bit of splashing in the reeds that fringe the path. Was this an Otter? To my surprise, two of the young Shags appeared a few feet away, clearly viewing Phragmites as a good substitute for a Kelp forest and were busy seeking out sheltering fish. Once they noticed me, they swam past eyeing me nervously, but soon returned back to the reeds. This was something I'd never expected to see! As I made my way back down the path, one of the Shags flew strongly past me and pitched in at the road-end of the lake and began fishing, again right up against the reeds. After a bit it seemed to spook and swam out into the lake and had a bath. 

The two young Shags; the top one is a first-winter, the bottom two, I think is a second-winter, much blacker and with clear moult contrast in the wings.  

Next up, back into the LDV, where I found a nice flock of Pinkfeet at East Cottingwith, but apart from two Egyptian Geese I failed to pick anything else out. 

Egyptian Geese
 

Pink-footed Geese

I did see one Pink with decidedly orange legs, but it was 'just' a Pink. A trap for the unwary perhaps. Down at Ellerton, a noisy White-front flew past and dropped in with Greylags just to the south. The Pinks weren't in the field where they were yesterday, so perhaps some of them were those in the field I was viewing. Another flock was noisily circling over the ings towards Aughton -  maybe that was the rest. Looking to the north, I was surprised to find a group of White-fronts, close in behind the bushes. They shortly took off and behaving very considerately, dropped right in front of me on the nearest grass. Cracking little geese, with some of the older birds with a whole rack of black belly stripes. A few Whooper Swans drifted past behind adding to the spectacle.

White-fronted Geese, with Whooper Swans

I headed south, pausing to look at three Great Egrets standing like sentinels in a rough field by Fog Lane. Mousing, I suspect. 

North Duffield was the next stop, and despite the horde of birders present, I was surprised to find a gang of Tundra Bean Geese at the back of the ings that nobody seemed to have noticed. Once a few Greylags had got out of the way, I counted 17 Bean Geese, which is the biggest flock I have ever seen in the UK. Even at this distance, their appearance was quite distinctive, with the dark brown upperparts matching the flanks, and the big wedge-shaped head with bulky bill looking so different from the Pinks I'd studied earlier. Despite the long view, the orange band on the heavy black bill was visible, as were the big bright orange feet and legs. Nice birds. 

 The wintering Spotted Redshank I'd found way back in November was right in front of the hide, feeding on the grassy bank with three or four Common Redshank cousins, whilst two Black-tailed Godwits napped nearby.

York birding really has had a fantastic start to 2026! 

Seven Goose Special

With half the family away in the Lakes for the weekend, and Sol in the middle of GCSE mock revision, I was largely free to spend the weekend birding. 

Saturday 31st January

Having waved off the lasses, I headed down to North Duffield Carrs to check out the goings on. Water was on the rise again after recent rainfall, with torrents streaming over the floodbank on to the ings. Garganey Hide was still above the water level but for how long I don't know. 

 Three drake Scaup were still present, two of which are almost in adult-like plumage now, with silvery backs, and glossy heads, whilst the third is a way behind, still looking dark and mottled with only a few adult-type feathers coming through on the mantle. The floods were full of Wigeon and Teal, with Shoveler, Pintail, Mallard and Gadwall sprinkled among them, plus a few Pochards and Tufted Ducks, and a single drake Goldeneye. Good numbers of Lapwings line the floodbanks, flushing easily as they evade the hunting Marsh Harriers. No sign of the White-tailed Eagle though; it seems to have gone for good.

Up the east side, there were no geese around East Cottingwith, apart from the noisy local Egyptians, so I went down to Ellerton churchyard, where I spied a large flock of Pink-footed Geese in the usual field on the far side. I grilled the flock looking for White-fronts or Tundra Beans, but instead found a quintet of Barnacle Geese busily feeding. I've not idea if these birds are wild, but they could have conceivably come in from the Netherlands, along with the White-fronts and Beans.  I eyed the eagle's favourite large Ash tree, with a little melancholy; I am not sure how long it will be before I see another one of those in the LDV. Out of nowhere, two Russian White-fronted Geese appeared on the flood in front of me, swimming about with the Whooper Swans, looking a little bewildered.

I had to get back to take Sol into town, so I headed back. 

Later, with errands run, I headed back down to Duff. Two Tundra Bean Geese flew across the flood and landed on the right hand side. Really cool geese, with quite a different jizz to Pink-feet, with hefty black beaks, with a neat orange band across the tip. The generally mid-brown plumage lacked the contrasting pale grey wing coverts of Pink-feet too and showed off the neat white edging to the coverts, and the big orange feet and legs stood out even at a distance. Not much else was going on, so I tried Thorganby where I saw an early glimpse of spring - two Oystercatchers - and then the roost at Wheldrake, which required a long wade in waders and yielded zilch, so I went home well before dark.

So, all in all, I had seen seven species of goose, within 20 miles of home: Barnacle, Canada, Egyptian, Greylag, Pink-footed, Russian White-fronted and Tundra Bean. Not bad! Just need a Brent to wander over from the Humber now.