Golden plovers

For those who don't know - hard to believe that are any - today and tomorrow are the national census days for Golden Plovers. We were asked to go to Berneray and count any there which we duly did. One big flock of 462 and not much else. We then headed back and for the first time this Autumn I got my bird nets up and caught two birds to ring.
The sharp eyed amongst you will already have spotted that the birds in the image are not Golden Plover but in fact are Barnacle Geese. The plover were being very boring and hunched up on the machair whilst this skein of geese seemed much more photogenic.