Benacre Merganser

On Sunday 3rd October, having stayed in over the last weekend due to the fuel crisis and I couldn't afford to waste any as I needed what I had in the tank for work. I was finally able to get out and decided to drive down to Covehithe. I walked down to the hide at Benacre Broad, the hide has had its shutters taken off (bit of a shame as the floor and seats were rather wet from yesterday's extreme rain storm and the wood will also rot much quicker too) and the introduction of a hand sanitiser! Looking out over the Broad, initially not a lot seen, save for 87 Greylag Geese resting on the broad edge by the beach and 4 Great Crested Grebe, 3 Little Grebes. But after several scans the female Red- breasted Merganser surfaced. At 10.56, a lone Barnacle Goose flew in and joined the Greylags on the beach. The bird was ringed with white lettering J19 on a blue ring (left leg) with double ring on the right leg silver below, yellow on top. At 11.21, a massive flock of 140+ Barnacle Geese flew in, about 70 continued west and around 70 settled on the beach. At least 6 of these were ringed and I was able to read the rings on a further 4; E or F44, H23, H27 & K07 white lettering on blue rings all on their left legs and all sported a double silver/ white on top on their right legs. I will get all of these sent off. Searching through these Geese, I saw 2 small Canada Geese types but on close inspection and a tip off from Rob H, they didn't look quite right and were in fact Canada X Barnacle Goose hybrids (probably 3X Canada & 1X Barnacle). Paul & Jane F arrived and the Merganser was showing a little better in the middle of the Broad, not quite Ferguson views, but better than before! A tweet of a Bonxie flying south and we quickly disembarked from the hide and an eventful seawatch revealed a fine Porpoise showing most of its body when it surfaced 3X rather than just the dorsal fin. I spotted a Red- throated Diver flying south on the horizon and another spotted flying south a little later. 2 Sandwich Terns flying south spotted by Paul and then another Sandwich Tern flying south. Finally, a Grey Seal spotted by Jane was swimming north. As I walked back up the cliff, I noticed a hairy caterpillar on a small oak leaf, thanks to Jane F for Id'ing it as a Vapourer Moth larvae from the phone pic (please note the pic is from the phone & not macro lens). Walking back along the entrance lane to Covehithe Church, I spotted 2 fine Ivy Bees taking nectar from Ivy flowers.