Two Brants

Somehow I never manage as much birding over Christmas as I hope, so after a nice family day out I decided to nip down to Hare's Creek (or Colton Creek as it's called on the OS map) late afternoon to have a look at a section of the Orwell I have thus far failed to cover. However, a flock of several hundred Brents was feeding in a field behind the creek, below Colton Cottage, next to the path I wanted to go down. Instead of disturbing them, I scanned them from the road, quickly finding the adult Black Brant. Much to my surprise, as I scanned back through the flock for a Pale-belly or maybe something better, I came across a second Brant at the opposite end of the flock! This looked a rather smaller bird, but was also an adult. Unfortunately the light wasn't great and I hadn't got my digiscoping adapter, so the photos aren't great...

Bird 1 - probably the same as the 24th

Bird 2 - appearing relatively small

I had a look on the Suffolk BINS website, and reported Black Brants in Suffolk this year have been: 

• 1 on the Deben at Kinsgfleet (1st Dec) and then at Falkenham (15th Dec)
• 1 on the Stour at Holbrook Creek (7th Dec)
• 1 probable at Shingle Street (10th Dec)

Presumably, one of 'my' birds is the Holbrook Creek bird, but it would be interesting to know if the second is the Deben/Shingle Street bird, or another individual. Unfortunately I don't think my photos will allow a forensic examination of plumage details...