Thursday, March 31, 2011

Changing weather. 30.3.2011

In marked contrast to yesterday today was misty, colder and wet at times with a forecast of worse to come overnight and into tomorrow! Certainly not a day to encourage any wintering geese to vacate their wintering quarters! Later in the day a "window" of fairly pleasant weather emerged as a period of respite between fronts!

Covering the whole southern sector of the island the day was more one of simply locating and counting the geese as little was to be gained otherwise. Whilst there seems to be a lot of Grey lag Goose pairs generally, there was also a number of groups of birds present in various places. The extent to which these might be birds from elsewhere is a matter for conjecture, if not I suggest our local breeding population is set to make a quantum leap in numbers! Certainly the numbers of birds remaining with us through the winter has been noticeable. It will be interesting to examine the counts and compare any trends which are beginning to emerge over, say, the past three winter periods.

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