more geese than swans*

After last Saturday's show, I wanted to see some barnacle geese. They sometimes fly over our house in high "V" formations, but I knew where I would see them up close and personal - at WWT Caerlaverock - and what better place to visit in wet weather than a wetland?

The showers actually stopped as soon as I arrived at Eastpark and I was in good time for the swan feeding at the Peter Scott Observatory. Whooper swans are arriving from Iceland to overwinter here. It's 800 miles to Caerlaverock and they do the journey in about 12 hours. There are also mute swans, a variety of ducks and in the foreground, some Canada Geese. The photo isn't great as it was taken through the smeary glass windows :-(

I spent a happy hour and a half wandering around. It was very peaceful and the light was lovely. The extra is looking south from the Scottish Water Hide, towards the Lake District hills, as a large flock of barnacles fly over the marsh.

*see here