When the alarm goes at 04:00 in the morning, you start to review your life choices.
But there is no chance of putting it off, you need to get up and get going. When you go through for your (first) breakfast of the day, the dog looks at you in bewilderment while he silently composes another letter to the SSPCA. Soon, you go out into the dark, kitted up for the drive to the Merse edge for an early morning goose count.
We get a lot of geese on the Solway – it is one the natural wonders of the area and it is important to count them so that we understand whether the population is increasing or decreasing. All across the country, other goose counters are going through the same early morning pain in a coordinated national count that will give us a snapshot of goose numbers across the UK.
But how do you count the geese? Well, the important thing is to do it the same way each time, so each year’s count can be compared. And the best way to count is when the geese leave their roosting sites out on the mudflats and sand banks of the Solway. This is where the bulk of the geese congregate each night for safe rest, so is the best time to get an accurate count of the population.
But this requires an early start, as you need to be in place on the edge of the saltmarsh before first light because the Pink Feet can be early risers. So, an hour after leaving home I am standing well wrapped up with notebook, scope and binoculars, in the near dark, trying to get a handle of what is going on. At this time of the day, it is all ear-work as the estuary night shift finishes and the day shift gets ready to start. Lapwing and Snipe have been feeding in the wet fields but are returning to lie up in the day on the saltmarsh, while our other inhabitants are gearing up for the day. Groups of Wigeon are squealing excitedly, there is some welcome hooting from the first whooper swans that have arrived back, and some curlews are tuning up to herald the day. Far out there is the murmur of large numbers of geese.
Gradually, the light increases, a striking sunrise bathes the trickle of gulls flying in land in a pinky-orange light. And then the geese start to move. Small trail blazing groups first, but excitement builds in the large flocks gathered on the mud. Eventually the discussion stops and after a moment of silence, an explosion of hundreds of wings and voices, the bigger groups lift off to head in land for breakfast. It makes a stunning sight with thousands of geese lit with the sunrise with a backdrop of Criffel and mudflats.
Counting is challenging but improves with experience – totals are made up by counting in 10’s or 50’s.
Eventually the flights drop to a trickle, the scene now in full daylight and the new day has begun. Over 2,500 pink feet and 2,200 Barnacle geese counted in this one spot. It is such a privilege to be part of the Solway’s wild birds’ day and suddenly my life choices seem pretty good after all. And now I can have my well-earned second breakfast and start of the rest of my working day.
You have the chance yourself to get up early and see the early morning goose flight with our Dawn Flight event this weekend. Don't miss out on this incredible experience.
Photos and text by David Pickett, Site Manager
