Ross's Goose, Old Coach Road

Photo: Ross's goose with Pink-footed geese,
Old Coach Road, Rainford © Dave Owen.

Ross's Goose 1 adult with at least 8000 Pink-footed Geese (Old Coach Road)

Pink-footed Geese 8000 (Old Coach Road)
Brambling 1 male (Dairy Farm Road)
Curlew 34 (Old Coach Road)
Lapwing 500 (Old Coach Road)

Stunning scenes from the Old Coach Road at it's junction with Dairy Farm Road. The skies were filled with Pink-feet, and towards evening even more arrived, with one flock coming in from Rainford which must have totalled 3000 birds alone. Estimates on numbers varied from 6000 to 10,000 birds, so I'm going with the average, 8000. A local farmer confirmed our suspicions that these birds do roost overnight on the moss, because he can hear them at night. Unfortunately, most were only visible today when in flight, and with them was an adult Ross's Goose, the same bird which was at Martin Mere last weekend. We saw it a couple of times in flight, and then right at the end of the day, after I had left at 6pm, I received a text from Ray to tell me that it was on the ground. I dashed back, and in the fading light I saw the bird reasonably close for about one minute, until a jogger spooked the flock, and about 5,000 birds rose with a deafening sound. In the absence of a Canadian ring, this is about as good as it gets with Ross's Goose. It's a wild bird in my book.

If you go to see this bird, please park sensibly at the start of Dairy Farm Road, and walk towards the Coach Road. Please don't enter any farmers fields.

Photo: Almost certainly the same Ross's goose,
Holkham, Norfolk 2008 © Dave Owen