Ten Thousand Geese...Part Three.

One mighty flat undwarfed by bush and tree

Spread its faint shadow of immensity

And lost itself, which seemed to eke its bounds

In the blue mist the horizon’s edge surrounds.

John Clare 173-1864

Barnacle Geese at Caerlaverock

26^th Oct.  This was to be my final full day north of the border, so we were hoping to make the most of it.  I have visited Caerlaverock WWT on many occasions, but surprisingly I’ve never visited Caerlaverock Castle or Caerlaverock NNR.  We intended to put that right today and on our drive to the castle via Dumfries and along by the attractive River Nith as it made it’s a straight course to the Solway, our chat included mention of Edward 1^st, the Maxwell family, and the Scottish Covenanters, all having strong connections to Caerlaverock Castle.  For years I’d imagined Caerlaverock Castle to be a small pile of stones, instead of this I found a magnificent ruin, much of the building still standing.  After a very interesting wander around we took the nature trail to the ‘old’ castle foundations.  This older castle was abandoned because of flooding, it once stood close to the shore of the Solway which is now 800 metres away.  Our walk provided a calling Great Spotted Woodpecker and Nuthatch.

Caerlaverock Castle

Barnacle Geese at Caerlaverock

By now there was more sunlight and we made our way to the WWT where after a cup of tea we walked down towards the hide expecting to see a Great White Egret.  Sadly, it had not shown up this morning.  I was happy to make do with the Peregrine Falcon, perched out on the merse, preening at times and looking well fed.  Size told us immediately that it was a female.  A walk back to the centre brought a Red Admiral Butterfly sighting and afterwards we listened to the talk as we watched the feeding of the Whooper Swans et al.  Our first Gadwall of the trip was seen.  Pink-footed Geese were seen in flight as were the very flighty Barnacle Geese, initially disturbed by a flyover Common Buzzard.  Canada and Greylag Geese were also seen today.  Flocks of Black-tailed Godwit and Lapwing were also in flight on several occasions.  The Barnacle Geese continued to provide entertainment as they kept lifting, and at one point as we walked to the furthest hide they were right overhead and the sound was amazing, almost like machinery working above such was the din.  We never actually bothered with the furthest hide, but having seen more Black-tailed Godwit , Redshank, Curlew and a Grey Heron catching and attempting to swallow an Eel, and Roe Deer in the distance, we decided to return and climb the Tower Hide.  The usual waterfowl were in the pool below us, predominately Wigeon, as we looked over towards Caresthorn where we had watched the tower from a couple of days before.   We walked to the field where the Barnacle Geese were likely to be in number.  We weren’t disappointed, and more geese flew in whilst we watched on!  Leaving this spot wasn’t easy but we fancied another cup of tea before the centre closed.  No, no, it wasn’t an RSPB Group trip, we just felt really thirsty.  By now the sky was clear and the sun lit the whole area.  I felt a little sorry for the staff in the kitchen who only felt the heat of the ovens, but I suppose there are worse places to work.  Sam purchased a Peter Scott book.  At some point today, not for the first time we had seen numbers of Skylark.  There seemed to be quite a movement of these birds.  Meadow Pipit had also been seen although overall smaller passerines were low in number at the reserve duplicating the position at RSPB Mersehead.  I’m guessing that many more will be seen as winter approaches.

Whooper Swan

Barnacle Geese at Caerlaverock

It was now time to visit the National Nature Reserve which is just down the road.  We walked down the path which leads through a farm-yard.  The barking dogs were locked up.  It wasn’t long before we were into one of my favourite habitats, reed-bed, which seemed to stretch for miles.  We passed Redwings and another single Fieldfare which were in the hedges.  Stonechat was also seen.  Three Common Snipe flew over-head and Water Rail was heard.  A Marsh Harrier flew high along the coast as it was chased by corvids.  We wondered whether this was the harrier from Mersehead or possibly another.  There had been no harriers reported at the WWT.  The silence was broken only by the call of birds, Curlews especially.  It was all quite a haunting experience and I could barely believe we had this whole area to ourselves at the best time of day.  We looked across reed-bed and merse towards the Cumbrian coast.  The sky was now cloud free and the sun was dropping down towards 570m high Crifell and causing a lemon glow in the early evening sky.  A narrow silvery line ran straight below Crifell, and I took this to be the River Nith entering the Solway and reflecting the faltering light.  We watched as the sun faded to a dot and quickly disappeared behind Crifell.  The atmosphere provided everything I like about such occasions.  I could tell that the weather was going to be good the following day.  Sadly, I was leaving soon but not before more birding in the morning.  It was almost time to make our return and prepare for dinner i.e. change my shoes.  This had been a perfect way to spend my last evening.

Caerlaverock NNR

Caerlaverock NNR

Caerlaverock NNR

Dinner was another good one and I watched the Plough in the sky when we headed back to base.  That wasn’t the pub, it’s was the constellation.   On return we stood outside and looked at the stars in the very clear sky, but not for too long as it was almost freezing!  We heard a Tawny Owl calling again tonight, and a Fox also.  I thought it would be cold in the morning and it certainly was.

27^th Oct.  We waited until 9.00am and for the temperature to rise to 4C before leaving for Threave.  It was bright and sunny as expected and we had hopes of finding White-fronted Geese.  Unfortunately the White-fronted Geese were not to be found this morning, but we enjoyed our walk around the reserve anyway and after the few days birding that we had experienced there could be no complaints.  Over two hundred Pink-footed Geese did provide a spectacular fly past.

Pink-footed Geese at Threave

We looked over toward the island on the River Dee and of course had a fine view of Threave Castle and the nest of the Ospreys which hopefully will now be enjoying the African Sun.  It just seemed like yesterday when I had been watching the Osprey family at the nest and Black 80 fishing at Loch Ken.

Threave Castle and Reserve

The reserve looked at its best today and there were to be some new birds for the trip list.  We saw Goldcrest and heard both Willow Tit and Redpoll.  The Red Kites have moved to their winter roosts and I thought I was going to be unlucky with that one, but no, a Red Kite flew across in front of one of the hides, its flight following the course of the river.

So, we eventually made off for Dumfries where we had lunch before Sam dropped me off to catch the train for Newcastle.  Unfortunately, Sam was working the following day.  I arrived back in Newcastle at 5.00pm to face the traffic jams, but more than happy with a trip bird list of ninety-six species and some great memories of birding experiences.  My thanks go to my guide, and more importantly, special friend Sam.

I had the idea for the title of these reports from Dumfries having noticed one of Sam’s books entitled A Thousand Geese.  It was written by Peter Scott and James Fisher and published in 1953.  It’s certainly thanks to Peter Scott and conservationists like him, of which I’m sure there have been many, that we can celebrate the success of species like Barnacle Geese.  Thankfully there are successes to celebrate amongst the doom and gloom that we continually hear about concerning wildlife.  Let’s remain positive!  My title could as easily have been, Twenty-five Thousand Geese, as Sam and I think that is at least nearer to the total number of geese we saw over the few days of the trip.  The quotes from the poetry of John Clare came to me as an idea having been directed towards Clare’s work by friends Hilary and Kelsey and having just read a biography of Clare by Jonathan Bate.  Clare had a difficult life and ended it in an institution, or as they called it in his day ‘a mad house’.  John Clare cared deeply for the natural world and had a wonderful eye for nature, and I can but wonder what he would have made of our adventures with the geese.