You're Barred.

I learned two new things this morning. My new wellies are fully waterproof as expected, and my old 'waterproof' trews are way past their best...

Other exciting revelations while birding Aldcliffe in the downpour included the discovery of a bar-headed goose among 400 or so greylags on the marsh by The Creek.

Now, my memory is a bit leaky at the best of times so I'm not entirely sure whether I've seen this species on the patch before. Aldcliffe has an unenviable list of dodgy fence-hopping wildfowl to its credit and while this commonly kept exotic honker has certainly occurred here in the past (in 2012 during my 'Canada years' at least) but I'd probably have to trawl through hordes of old notebooks to confirm whether I've clocked one myself.

Bar-headed goose on the loose. Pic by Swati Kulkarni

Of course the bar-headed goose is rightly famed for its amazing migratory prowess. This species is known to fly higher than any other bird on the planet, crossing the Himalayas and even passing over Everest. However, I expect our friend on Aldcliffe has traveled no further than from Grange duck pond...

Other highlights were very few - in fact the only thing really worthy of mention were the pair of kingfishers on the upper ponds at Freeman's Pools. 

Jon

Photo courtesy of Swati Kulkarni's Flickr page