An early jaunt before work to see if the geese were still at Little Singleton. They were, but a lot of them were out of view behind hedges bordering the pasture they were feeding in. The Svalbard collared bird was still in the flock. There was also a lone Greylag in with the Pink-feet, see earlier blogs about that.
It actually took me a while to twig the geese were around at all, as the field was some distance from my viewpoint, and in the meantime there were other distractions. The Willow Tit that was here a few weeks back was again scolding away briefly, but just like the first sighting it then melted away and I never saw it again.
I was also absorbed by watching the Goldeneye on the River Wyre at the bend towards Windy Harbour. There were half a dozen birds present, the most I have seen here all winter. Goldeneye are sex obsessed at this time of the year, and the three adult males were throwing the heads in the air trying to impress the two ladies present.
There was also a first summer drake in the group. I assumed that as he was still in transitional plumage, he would take a back seat in the displaying. Not a bit of it, he was actively chasing some of the other males away if they got too close to the ladies. Then he met his match and was also chivvied away.
It reminded me of a tiny first summer Little Gull that was on a flooded field near Lytham a few years ago. It defended its favoured puddle from a couple of adult Black-headed Gulls that were far larger, showing remarkable chutzpah. Like today’s budding romeo it was eventually chased off, youthful confidence can only get you so far…
Natural Selection 
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