At midday, accompanied by Tom, I went to Manea hoping to see the three fabalis Taiga Bean Geese that had taken up residence. We failed as they had apparently been flushed north before we arrived. We did however see over one hundred Bewick’s Swans, several Whooper Swans, and a Pink-footed Goose. Also, amongst the feral Greylag Geese was a very pale individual which seemed to resemble the eastern form, rubrirostris. Later in the evening I sent the following to message to the cambirds which describes the bird:
“Whilst myself and my son were dipping the Taiga Bean at Manea this afternoon, we found a very pale Greylag. It had a definite pink (rather than orange) bill and broad white fringes on the upperparts that were a lot more contrasty than the fringes of the other Greylags. Unfortunately the leg colour could not be determined as it was always slightly behind a bank.”
Unfortunately, opinion was that it was probably a hybrid, which it well could have been, though not an obvious one, and certainly not like the obvious Greylag x Swan/Chinese Goose suggested. Lee Evans suggested that rubrirostris should be larger (which it didn’t appear to be), but who knows?
We then continued to Eldernall hoping to see the two rossicus Tundra Bean Geese. These were new for Tom, and after a bit of effort they were found amongst four Pink-foot and two White-fronted Geese. Two Barn Owls and a Little Owl were also seen at dusk.
