Suffolk Bird Report 2019
APPENDIX I – CATEGORY D SPECIES Species that would otherwise appear in Categories A or B except that there is reasonable doubt that they have ever occurred in Britain in a natural state. No reports in 2019. APPENDIX II – CATEGORY E SPECIES Species that have been recorded as introductions, transportees or escapees from captivity, and whose breeding populations (if any) are thought not to be self-sustaining. Where a species is also placed in other categories of the British List, this is indicated in the species’ summary. RED-BREASTED GOOSE Branta ruficollis Breeds Taimyr Peninsula in arctic Siberia. The majority winter on western shores of Black Sea in Bulgaria and Romania, with small numbers annual in The Netherlands. Categories A and E.
Redgrave: Fen, Feb 17th.
BAR-HEADED GOOSE Anser indicus Breeds by lakes in central Asia from Mongolia to the Tibetan plateau. Winters throughout the Indian subcontinent and Myanmar (Burma). Category E. All the records below are thought to refer to the same pair, plus their young, none of which fledged. The reporting rate was impressive (especially for an escapee!) with no less than 112 records submitted to BirdTrack.
Minsmere: two, near-daily from Apr 24th to June 14th and Sep 26th to Oct 1st, with five young on June 1st rapidly dropping to one two days later Orfordness: two south, June 18th; presumably the same two birds were on the Airfields, Oct 19th, Dec 5th and 18th Boyton Marshes: two, June 25th, Aug 2nd to 7th, Aug 15th, Oct 27th, Nov 13th and 29th, Dec 3rd to 8th, Dec 14th Hollesley Marshes: two, presumably the same as at Boyton, June 24th and 25th; near-daily from July 1st to 29th; Dec 31st Trimley Marshes: hybrid Bar-headed x White-fronted Goose, Sep 14th
This is the second occasion that Bar-headed Goose has bred and hatched young which did not survive, the first occasion having been in 2017, also at Minsmere. Two adults, possibly a breeding pair, were at Ramsholt in May and June 1997.
EMPEROR GOOSE Anser canagica Breeds north-eastern Siberia and western Alaska. Winters from southern Alaska to northern California. Category E. Hollesley: Oct 24th. Trimley Marshes: hybrid Emperor x Barnacle Goose, Dec 1st and 30th
Trimley Marshes was obviously the place for hybrid geese! SWAN GOOSE Anser cygnoides North-eastern Asia. Winters central China. Category E.
Parham: on the same large pond for the last three years (and previous Parham records back to 2010), Jan 19th; Mar 11th; Apr 13th; May 14th; June 9th; Oct 26th; Nov 24th; Dec 14th
LESSER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE Anser erythropus Forest bogs of northern Scandinavia east to eastern Siberia. Winters locally from The Netherlands to eastern China. Categories A and E. Thetford: BTO Nunnery Lake, with Greylag Geese, Jan 15th to Feb 7th 220
