Swan Lake

A quick entry tonight, because I am completely shattered from our trip to WWT Caerlaverock. We spent four hours there today, and it was amazing.

We started the morning before dawn, heading along the coast to watch the sunrise over the sea as we drove. Its such a lovely coast, and the sun rose clear and bright for what was a beautiful day weatherwise. The journey to Caerlaverock is a longish one from Port William, but we saw various birds along the way, including Buzzards and Curlews.

Once we got to Caerlaverock I was once again disappointed to be told that there were no geese in the fields by the centre entrance, as their had been when my parents had visited previously. This is becoming a running theme and its getting annoying. Anyway, we saw some Barnacle Geese from the first hide we went to, and then some Teal and Mallard at the next. I was pleased to hear the sounds of Whooper Swans coming from the main feeding pond, and we headed up there for the morning feed. Nine Whoopers greeted us as well as about thirty Mute Swans and heaven knows how many more Mallard, Wigeon and Tufted Duck. Slightly disappointing in the numbers of Whooper, but given the mild weather, and the fact that most of the grain fields nearby are either uncut or covered in spilt grain, its hardly surprising that the birds are elsewhere. Once the feeding was over however, about fifteen Canada Geese dropped in, followed by twenty plus Greylag Geese. A slightly more positive outlook at least.

Time to head to the next hide, to be greated with an empty field, barring three Rooks. As I got up to leave though, a flock of roughly three hundred Barnacle Geese appeared and landed in the field by the hide. Big thumbs up, I thought that was an achievement, until a helicopter passed over whilst we were walking to the tower that looks over the Solway Estuary. How wrong was I? Nigh on four thousand Barnacle geese took to the skies, and there is no way I can do any literary justice to what I witnessed. If you're that curious, book a trip to the Solway Firth during the next two months and camp out at Caerlaverock, because its amazing with just four thousand geese, let alone the ENTIRE Barnacle Goose population from Svalbard. Anyway, it was amazing and the noise was outstanding, not only could you hear the whoosh of their wings, but Barnacle Geese are possibly the noisest geese around. They do not shut up all the while they're awake, they even talk with their mouths full. I'd best stop, before I write an essay on the wonders of geese, but seriously, if you can make the trip, its worth it.

Heading back along the track, we came across a Treecreeper, something I've never had a chance to photograph before, and spent the next fifteen minutes doing so. The best bit was he didn't even seem to mind, just flitted from tree to tree, finding food and ignoring us completely. Then we bumped into the same people we'd seen at RSPB Ken Dee Marshes yesterday! Small world, wonder if we might bump into them tomorrow too? On that note, I should go to bed, the house is creaking and giving me the creeps.

Tomorrow: Mulling things over.