Buy 1 get 2 free. Red-breasted Goose and Glossy Ibis

On Friday I had to make the choose between going to Canterbury with my parents or go birding with Chris and Paul. I'm writing on my blog so you can guess which one I choose. We started off the trip with a visit to Thursley Common to see some Woodlarks. It took us a good drive to get there and much of it was done in the fog. Our expectations of the day were already going down the drain. When we had takaled the drive we made a short walk along the board walk looking for any birds but other than Reed Buntings and Chaffinchs nothing wanted to show itself in the driry weather. We scanned the area and walked a little further were it took me a while before I realised that the blog on top of a branch was not part of it but actually a WOODLARK.

Record shot of Woodlark

Thursley Common landscape

 After seeing the first one more began to show themselves before long we had at least 5+ birds. We shortly tried for the Great Grey Shrike but decided quickly it wasn't completely worth our effort. Despite the rubbish weather we all managed to get some picture to prove the birds were woodlark. We were finished with Thursley Common but that was all we had planned and it was only 10 o'clock. Where to go? How about the Red Breasted Goose in Hampshire. And off we were. It took us half an hour to drive and were off after the bird in no time. We ignored the birds on the way because we were keen to get our target bird. A short walk took us to a large flock of Brent Geese which contained the bird and only took Chris a few seconds to find with his scope. The RED BREASTED GOOSE showed very well letting me get some nice pictures but unfortunately it liked eating whilst the sun was out and raised his head when it was abscured by clouds.

Red-breasted Goose

Find the Red-breasted Goose

Brent Geese in flight

After a good amount of time we decided to go onto the next bird which was either the Ring Billed Gull or the Glossy Ibis. But before doing this we quickly checked the pools and found a Black Tailed Godwit, a Pintail, Wigeon and a Black Necked Grebe. We were on a role so Glossy Ibis was our choose. It was only 6 minutes drive away so we were up and running going the wrong way in no time. But we only realised when we were told by another birder. We were than shown the right place and had some good views of the GLOSSY IBIS but the light was terrible!!! And I could only get some pictures to show I saw it.

Record shot of Glossy Ibis

We hadn't dipped anything so we thought we would go to Acres Down for some Goshawks but missed them because of the rain. We did manage a Marsh Tit, a Mistle Thrush and a Treecreeper so we were content.