Seasons Greetings

Brent Goose.

It looks like this goose might be bird of the year for me, this is because I found 112 Brent Geese on the north shore at Heysham on Thursday 19 December, representing the peak count for 2024 so far. I picked out a LDBWS Annual Report for 2014 to find the Pale-bellied Brent Goose wasn't even featured anywhere in the recording area 10 years ago.

The history of the Brent Geese in number at Heysham doesn't start until 2019, when the count peaked at 43 Pale-bellied Brent Geese in March. The species was recorded then as, 'a scarce winter visitor but a regular late-winter feeding area is developing at Heysham'....This is the status still recorded in the last published LDBWS report in 2021, but surely won't be recorded as 'scarce' in the next report.   

I'm really chuffed to send seasonal wishes to all followers of B2B, dedicated, occasional, or even rarely. Chuffed because the peak count of views was 162 to a recent post. This includes my thanks to those who regularly forward news and info about the presence of birds in our area....'who needs WhatsApp anyway'....and the little army of photographers who also forward excellent images to add some colour and often excitement to the blog. 

I'm grateful to Ian Mitchell for unwittingly taking on the role of providing me with a Christmas header image of the Cockersand Barn Owl. Perfect timing Ian, I was struggling to find one when the owl arrived in my inbox....Thank You Ian. 

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE