Maiden Hall Lake and the Coast (again)

Had a run up the coast to Cresswell  but only checked the pool to the north because I wanted to get to Maiden Hall Lake area parked along the West Chevington road and had a short walk no signs of any raptors only 2 red Legged Partridge , further along the 2 Bewick's Swan (adult & Juvenile) in a field near the roadside I pulled over and there was such a crunch, getting out to investigate a manhole cover was missing and I had gone over the corner lucky I didn't go over the middle or that would have been the end of the day and my car . The Geese where as far over as it was possible to be along the east shore and beyond, I scanned through them still many White-fronts mostly keeping to themselves , Greylag and Pinkfeet but I could see no bean Geese , Two Pinkfeet  with neck collars oddly right next to each other way to far to read , a passing RAF jet put them on edge and every one dropped onto the lake for a bathe so I took some awful video just to give an idea of numbers . East Chevington was the next stop got there slowly as I checked every likely tree in the hope of Little Owl, rather blowy at Chevington picked out the Slavonian Grebe plenty of wildfowl but I wasn't in the mood to count them looking over the south Pool a Merlin came over and sat atop a small hawthorn before disappearing, another flock of Pinkfeet about a thousand just west of the south pool but no sign of any  SEO today nor any sign of the Whoopers at Ellington as I stopped there on the way home.

 A couple of very distant digi shots with the two Pinkfeet sporting neck collars

 These Bewick's  have been here for a week or so it seems an odd location hope they are both OK

A bit of dodgy video just to show the number of Geese around

Holywell Pond

A couple of hours at Holywell Pond 40 odd Greylags ,30+ Teal  at the west end , the Greylags left ,b ut large numbers of Gulls started dropping in to bathe could pick out nothing out of the ordinary from the large gathering but in any case I did not have a scope, the feeders devoid of birds even though they had just been filled.

Huge numbers of Wood Pigeon lifted from the woods and hedge flushed by a Buzzard, this was a well marked individual and I wanted to try and get some photos , but it just sat in various trees on the far side till it eventually dropped over the hedge out of sight . Then I noticed about 20 Geese heading straight for me coming in silent as they dropped on the water I thought  there Bean Geese 18 in total the most I have seen in one flock , I noticed a couple with more orange on the bill with some degree of white to the base and where they larger ? thinking these two could be  Taiga  ,with no scope all I could do was get a few photos the light ever changing making the odd bill look more like Pinkfoot , but  looking at the photos as they left they where all Bean Geese but I think all are Tundra. only one called a single very soft note which I only just heard. I waited for another half hour in the hope of Water Rail but no luck, a flock of 200+ Pinkfeet heading south ended the day.

 Greylag leave

 Bean drop in

 there where two similar birds this is one on the right that I thought may have been Taiga

They drifted nearer

 Before they  lifted as one and left