Between showers, spring arrives
We've been enjoying a seasonal shift in some of our wildlife sightings here at Caerlaverock.
Spring showers, between blue skies and rainbows, are beckoning tree buds to leaf, blossoms to emerge and more flowers to begin blooming.
Since the rafts have been put out on the Whooper Pond (they are designed to encourage black-headed gulls to breed), the remaining whooper swans have moved over to the Folly Pond or dispersed further afield. They will be heading off for Iceland over the next month or so.
Our resident mute swan pair have started making their nest on the Teal Pond. We hope they will raise another successful brood and wonder how many cygnets they'll have this year.
We've been joined by up to ten little egrets, going to and fro between the Back Pond, Teal Pond and Floodground.
Frog spawn has been spotted by the Back Pond and common toads have increased their activity, with mating being observed.
Whilst there are still considerable numbers of barnacle geese and pink-footed geese around, they will soon be starting their migrations back to Svalbard and Greenland respectively. We are marking this with our 'Goodbye to the Geese' events over Easter.
Feature photo of a little egret by Alex Hillier
