Lochans

It was warm enough today to fling the windows of my classroom open and smell the fresh air. I love fresh air after a winter of being cooped up inside most of the time.

After school I couldn't wait to get out for a walk and I headed up to the lochans behind my house to see what wildfowl I could spot. There were plenty ducks about but most flew off long before I got close enough to identify them. There were a few geese swimming on the water and the constant passage overhead of pairs of ducks startled by my approach. I nearly stood on a snipe that was resting in a tussock of grass by the waters edge and discovered a couple of large holes in the hillside that must belong to foxes or badgers - both of which have been seen in the area. The footprints of the deer that I see in the early morning were imprinted in the mud. So lots of signs of wildlife but not much to actually see.

Until I noticed in the fading light that the next field had hundreds of geese grazing! I tried to creep up quietly but the lookouts spotted me and before long the whole gaggle took off with much honking and whooshing of flapping wings. They circled around before landing in field further away. I got a few shots - but with the fading light and extended zoom the quality was poor, although good enough for me to estimate their number to be around 2,000 and identify them as greylag.

My lungs got filled with lots of fresh air, and my head got cleared of all work related debris! Now for a lazy evening.