Barnacle Geese in flight over Mersehead RSPB Reserve, Dumfries & Galloway.
On 14th Oct Mrs B. & I decided to make the short trip from Southerness (where we stay on the Solway) to the Mersehead RSPB reserve. I expected there to be "a few" Barnacle Geese in by now, but I was truely astonished when we headed away from the Southerness peninsula only to be confronted by a carpet of black and white geese in a field.
The Barnies were quite tame really, allowing close views. We reckon there were about a couple of thousand of them in the one field right next to the road.
A few minutes later we arrived at Mersehead in glorious weather. There were a few butterflies on the wing including Small Tortoishell, Painted Lady and Red Admiral plus a few dragonflies that remained unidetified but I though they may have been Common Darters.
We thought there were something in the region of 3500+ Barnacle Geese on the reserve, including this albino pictured above. Otherwise we didn't see an awful lot on our walk out to the beach and back via the hides: 50+ Pink-feet, Green Sandpiper, 2 Stonechats and 5+ Yellowhammers.
Barnacle Geese in flight over Mersehead RSPB Reserve, Dumfries & Galloway.
On 14th Oct Mrs B. & I decided to make the short trip from Southerness (where we stay on the Solway) to the Mersehead RSPB reserve. I expected there to be "a few" Barnacle Geese in by now, but I was truely astonished when we headed away from the Southerness peninsula only to be confronted by a carpet of black and white geese in a field.
The Barnies were quite tame really, allowing close views. We reckon there were about a couple of thousand of them in the one field right next to the road.
A few minutes later we arrived at Mersehead in glorious weather. There were a few butterflies on the wing including Small Tortoishell, Painted Lady and Red Admiral plus a few dragonflies that remained unidetified but I though they may have been Common Darters.
We thought there were something in the region of 3500+ Barnacle Geese on the reserve, including this albino pictured above. Otherwise we didn't see an awful lot on our walk out to the beach and back via the hides: 50+ Pink-feet, Green Sandpiper, 2 Stonechats and 5+ Yellowhammers.
