Ten Thousand Geese...Part One.

He hears the wild geese gabble oer his head
And pleasd wi fancys in his musings bred
He marks the figurd forms in which they flye
And pausing follows wi a wandering eye
Likening their curious march in curves or rows
To every letter which his memory knows

John Clare 1793-1864

23^rd Oct.  Having crossed the border and reached the Scottish Solway coast by early evening, Sam and I decided that a stop was in order to take a look for bird life.  Our focus over the next few days in Dumfries and Galloway was to be birds and other wildlife, with a little culture and history thrown in.  As we approached the shore of the Solway we found large numbers of Redwing lifting from the soaked and berry laden hedges.  The sky and waters of the Solway were still leaden grey, but the heavy rain had stopped and as the Redwings took a break from their feast, in the fields close by us, they showed every marking very clearly in what was a post storm vivid light.  We managed to catch sight of several other species either on the water or in the near vicinity of it and these included Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Greylag Geese, Goosander, Red breasted Merganser, Kestrel, Common Buzzard, Oystercatcher, Lapwing and Curlew. This was enough to whet the appetite before making off for our destination and a very good dinner at one of the local pubs.  We went to sleep to the sound of heavy rain fall.

24^th Oct.  We awoke to the sound of heavy rain fall, but happily it was forecast to cease later in the morning.  The rain had eased slightly as we set off and stopped by the time we had reached Caresthorn, on the Solway estuary.  I noticed the Solway waters had  formed a very dark grey line along the horizon, although closer by lighter shades of grey reflected the fact that the cloud did give hints of breaking up, but at this point in time no blue sky was visible.  We soon brightened up with an excellent sighting of Slavonian Grebe and the calls from a number of skeins of Pink-footed Geese which flew overhead.  Great Crested Grebe was also seen.  The hedge between us and the village was attracting larger numbers of Greenfinch than I have seen for a long time.  At this point another birder approached us, he having just found a Redstart which we never did see.  This guy was significant, as he was the only birder we bumped into during our few days of birding, except for those we encountered in reserves.  As Sam said, this whole area is very under watched and reported.  Everywhere I looked across the estuary there was large numbers of Oystercatchers.

Sign at Caresthorn

By now we were confident enough to set off on a walk along the shore, which was a new area for me,  without taking waterproof trousers.  The tide being low, we were treated to some good sightings including Little Egret, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, many Shelduck, Mallard, Shoveler, Pintail, Wigeon, Teal and Red breasted Merganser.  Waders were soon heard and seen and as well as the many Oystercatchers we located Ringed Plover, Lapwing, Turnstone, Dunlin, Redshank and Curlew, the latter birds call being heard.  There was no shortage of other passerines, Linnets being one.  There had been many more Redwings.  Having taken in the sights and sounds during what had been a rewarding visit, we made off towards Southerness, just a little further along the Solway.  I especially wanted to photograph the lighthouse which stands on the shore there.

We were soon standing looking out over the Solway again and standing next to what is the second oldest lighthouse in Scotland, modernised at some point by the famous Stevenson’s.  I carefully took up positions on the slippery rocky shore too get the images I wanted.  I felt, on what was still a grey storm threatening morning, that this spot with its unusually designed lighthouse, gave off a rather sombre Dickensian atmosphere and David Copperfield would not have looked out of place.

Our next stop was to be RSPB Mersehead.  We took a single lane, rain laden potholed road to get there.  We were soon to find that skeins of Barnacle Geese were flying along the coast and over our heads.  Sam pulled in to a passing place so we could listen and watch.  Passing cars splashed mud and goodness knows what else onto his recently washed car, but that was the last thing on his mind as we watched wave after wave of yapping Barnacle Geese fly over us.  The skeins were making all kinds of shapes in the sky above.  Just as we thought we had seen them all pass, more skeins would appear with a background of hills behind them.  There were a number of Pink footed Geese amongst them, but predominately the sky was full of Barnacle Geese.  This sight and sound provided my best experience of watching geese and I include the action I had seen on Islay a few years ago.  It can be argued that there are few wild places in the UK, but wild experiences are still available, and this was just that.  In any event I think wildness can often be simply a state of mind.  Thousands of Barnacle Geese landed in the fields between us and the Solway.  Incidentally, these fields are not part of the reserve underling the fact that whilst reserves have an important place in providing refuge for our wildlife, areas off the reserves are just as important   and should be provided.  This does require ongoing discussion, work and at times compromise if wildlife is to have a secure future in our ever increasingly populated island.  We estimated that we had seen at least 5,000 geese at this point.

We did eventually reach Mersehead.  The highlight here was of course more Barnacle Geese which at time were quite active and in the air.  At times we were very close to them as we walked along the pathways and watched the individual sentinel geese watch us intently from the outside of the flocks.

By now the sun had broken through and it was quite warm.  The hills around the reserve showed their autumn colours of fading yellow, brown and umber.  Apart from the geese the reserve was very quiet, the pools especially, with one of them dried out in part.  However, we did add a pair of Whooper Swans and the odd Canada Goose to our morning list, otherwise the waterfowl were in the main Mallard, Pintail, Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler and Shelduck.  A Marsh Harrier was seen but somewhat briefly and distant and the hedges held many Redwings.  Smaller passerines were fewer in number than is often found here but included House Sparrow, Tree Sparrow, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Yellowhammer, most of them at the feeding station.

 We took a walk down to the shore by which time the light was fading and there was rain in the air, so we made back towards the car and before we reached it the rain had come on quite heavily.  Common Buzzard, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel had been seen as we made off towards our accommodation.  After another good dinner we once again went to sleep to the sound of heavy rainfall as we thought of our early start and long trip tomorrow.  We believe we had seen 10,000 geese today.  More to come.