The varying fortunes of two geese were very much the focus of attention this afternoon at a fog drenched Inner Marsh Farm.
A carcass of a dead Canada Goose was the subject of contested ownership and it was the local Fox that eventually claimed the spoils with the next place in the pecking order being taken by a pair of Ravens.
The Fox could not decide what the best strategy was; either to eat as much as physically possible or to carry the remains away to another location. In the end it must have reasoned that the more it consumed the easier it would be to carry, so a policy of scoff and drag was duly adopted!
The other goose of note was an Egyptian one picked up feeding on the wet meadow area near the boating lake. Being firmly in Flintshire it represented another unexpected addition to my year list, taking me to the cricketers’ bogey number - the dreaded 111!
It is probably nothing more than coincidental, but looking through my dusty old tome, the last time I recorded this species was almost exactly to the same date three years previously at the same location – Inner Marsh Farm – and that bird was a single too.
On that occasion though, it didn’t have the company of the fabulous flock of Pinkies that are still feeding on the small arable field behind the wet meadow. Also notable today were two Ruff, good numbers of Lapwing and Teal, plus superb views of a hunting adult female Hen Harrier.
Just before it was time to draw the stumps, I had a quick scan of Burton Marsh from Denhall Lane. The visibility was dreadful, but I was fairly sure that I had a Marsh Harrier hunting over towards the Dee channel, but attempts to relocate the bird with the scope failed miserably and with a ringtail Hen Harrier in the same area doubts crept in. Stuck on 111 then - I’ll just have to keep standing on one leg a la David Shepherd…
Until later.
A carcass of a dead Canada Goose was the subject of contested ownership and it was the local Fox that eventually claimed the spoils with the next place in the pecking order being taken by a pair of Ravens.
The Fox could not decide what the best strategy was; either to eat as much as physically possible or to carry the remains away to another location. In the end it must have reasoned that the more it consumed the easier it would be to carry, so a policy of scoff and drag was duly adopted!
The other goose of note was an Egyptian one picked up feeding on the wet meadow area near the boating lake. Being firmly in Flintshire it represented another unexpected addition to my year list, taking me to the cricketers’ bogey number - the dreaded 111!
It is probably nothing more than coincidental, but looking through my dusty old tome, the last time I recorded this species was almost exactly to the same date three years previously at the same location – Inner Marsh Farm – and that bird was a single too.
On that occasion though, it didn’t have the company of the fabulous flock of Pinkies that are still feeding on the small arable field behind the wet meadow. Also notable today were two Ruff, good numbers of Lapwing and Teal, plus superb views of a hunting adult female Hen Harrier.
Just before it was time to draw the stumps, I had a quick scan of Burton Marsh from Denhall Lane. The visibility was dreadful, but I was fairly sure that I had a Marsh Harrier hunting over towards the Dee channel, but attempts to relocate the bird with the scope failed miserably and with a ringtail Hen Harrier in the same area doubts crept in. Stuck on 111 then - I’ll just have to keep standing on one leg a la David Shepherd…
Until later.
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