Main Photo: The family four take off at dusk. Russian White-fronted Geese © Wes Attridge
Remember the cold north easterlies on Christmas Eve? I won’t forget them.
They delivered Cranleigh with a historic few weeks for birders of all types – the super dedicated and those generally interested in bird behaviour but disinclined to walk around with a pair of binoculars.
That Arctic blast persuaded hundreds of geese to dodge the fierce, icy conditions in the Tundra and head south-west for food, safety and warmth.
It soon became apparent that there were hundreds of Russian White-fronted Geese arriving in southern England thanks to the severe weather. None normally make it to Surrey.
So every time I went out after that I was careful to examine all the usual flocks of Greylags, Canadas and Egyptian Geese around the village fields. There was nothing doing.
I tried the same thing a few years ago when we had the last influx in southern England but that turned out to be a wild goose chase.
But you see nothing if you stay indoors so on the first Saturday afternoon of January, I forsook the cosy sofa and ventured out into a freezing cold north-easterly wind. Madness. All was quiet.
Many Cranleigh birds seemed to have done a bunk and moved off further south for a winter warmer. The ponds had mostly frozen over in the biting wind and, despite the gloves, my fingers were turning into icicles.
One bonus was the good visibility but I was walking towards a low and blinding sun. I kept going along the public footpath beside the field and noticed a few Canada Geese so I raised my ‘bins’ and saw a smaller bird, perhaps a duck. It was sitting in long grass on a slope and was further obscured by a bank in front of it.
It seemed very grey. Gadwall? That would be good for Cranleigh. I re-focussed and up popped the head of another bird beside it. Adrenaline rush! Immediately I was amazed to see the vivid white blaze on the front of its head.
A Russian White-fronted Goose! And alongside were two juveniles and another adult with a smaller white shield, presumably the female. A family party.
They were literally resting on a path frequented by walkers and dogs so I feared they would soon be flushed. But my prayers were answered and they stayed 75 minutes until dusk when they flew off towards the full, golden Wolf Moon rising above the horizon.
My fingers were frozen from messaging people and answering phone calls from friends wanting to see this historic event. Four of them managed to get there in time.
Interestingly the only previous Cranleigh record was a single bird I found 24 years ago on January 2, 2002. It stayed two weeks so I thought this displaced family could well see out the bad weather with us.
The next day they had disappeared so I set about searching through a flock of 140 Greylags, to no avail.
But while checking another apparently vacant field for a third time, I spotted the ever-observant head of the male Russian White-fronted Goose on sentry duty as his family fed on grass. You can’t be too careful in a strange land when the local army outnumbers you.
There was another surprise too. Overnight a fifth bird had joined them. Perhaps it was a straggler they ‘called’ down to join them after hearing it fly over in the dark.
During the next three weeks I managed to find them on five different fields and they were enjoyed by many observers.
Although the visitors always stuck together, they became more confident and fed alongside ever-increasing numbers of geese featuring a local record of 340 Greylags plus Canadas and Egyptians.
Early last month there was another influx of Russian White-fronted Geese to our east coast as more cold, windy weather rolled in over the Netherlands.
I re-visited the original site, just in case. Nothing doing. There were no Russians but another surprise was in store. Guess who was back. Amazingly, the American female Ring-necked Duck, which I wrote about in Cranleigh Magazine last year, had paid us a return visit.
