As I locked the door behind me this morning, I could hear a great honking, and cackling, I looked up and over 100 GREY LAG GEESE went over just above chimney pot level, different size groups went over, the biggest one had 63 birds in it. A common bird, but what a spectacle! Apart from that it was mostly the SWALLOWS at Migrant Alley that took my interest, 20 were alighting in a small half dead tree, and at least another 30 were zooming low over the paddocks.
I walked home in persistent rain, and didn't even get my binoculars out of my bag! I waited until 16:00 until the rain cleared, before going out for a trip round migrant alley again. Two species were found to add to the Aug. list, COMMON WHITETHROAT, of which 3 were found in the srub at the north end, and TURTLE DOVE, 2 of which flew over. Also going over were 5 SWIFTS, I don't usually see many Swifts in Aug. but this year they are proving plentiful. A look back at my records shows the mean last sighting date for swift is the 17th Aug. The very latest date was the 31st Aug, back in 2004. I also looked at Turtle dove records, their mean last sighting date is the 22nd Aug, with the latest sighting on the 1 Sept. which occurred last year. my walks will be tinged with a bit of sadness when all the migrants have gone back to Africa.
Sorry there's no pics today, the light was very poor, and photo opportunities were virtually nil!
2 comments:
I certainly miss the huge flocks of geese up around the Cromarty Firth. Watching them take of from a field or settle on calm water at sunset was indeed spectacular.
WWarren: We have a lot of Canadian Geese in our area. They raise their families this far south. I had some nice bird captures this week, see my post.
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