Incredible Journeys? Barnies and Whoopers make theirs, as does a rarity...
It's that time again, as thousands of wildfowl make their incredible journeys from the Arctic to the UK.
The first Barnacle Geese arrived back from Svalbard on the 23rd September with a flock of 85 dropping in. Since then numbers have shot up and we currently have over 11,000 feeding in the fields and on the merse most days. The north Solway count is currently around 25,000, not yet up to last years top count of 38,100 though. Still some more to come.
There are also plenty of Pink-footed Geese in the area at the moment having come down from Iceland recently. Best times to see them are early morning and late evening.
The first Whooper Swans have just come in from Iceland, with 3 on the Folly Pond on Tuesday 7th October. One ringed adult then dropped onto the Whooper Pond, Orange ZKN, a 5 year old male, before being chased off by the Mute Swans. There were then 4 Whoopers feeding in a field to the north of the reserve, and today (Wed 8th Oct) there have been 6 Whoopers sleeping in front of the Newfields Hide.
Hopefully over the next few days we will have more join them and they will be confident enough to come onto the Whooper Pond for the 11am and 2pm commentated feeds.
A rare American duck, a drake Green-winged Teal has been found on the Folly Pond today. Very similar to our Eurasian Teal, but with a vertical white stripe on the side of the body (no horizontal white stripe). This could be the same bird that was here last year, or it could be a new one that has been blown across the Atlantic. Whichever it is, it's nice to see something different and rare here, and it's an excellent challenge trying to pick it out of the flock!
Please come and join us, to see these amazing birds after they've made their incredible journeys!
