Wild Geese Return!
The wild geese are returning to the Solway for the winter
Wild Geese Return!
The wild geese are returning to the Solway for the winter! We have 5-10,000 pink footed geese in the area which have just completed their 800 mile migration from Iceland. The Svalbard barnacle geese are currently still arriving; in the local area there are 16,500 barnacle geese and across the Solway 33,000 have returned so far.
The geese are attracted to the Solway Firth as the large mudflats are remote and here the birds are safe from predators. At dawn every day they flock to the coastal fields around Caerlaverock to feed on the fields. WWT Caerlaverock was originally set up to protect the barnacle geese and the reserve is managed for them. The entire population of barnacle geese from Svalbard make the 2000 mile migration to the Solway each Autumn, to spend the winter on the Solway. In the late 1940s there were only 300 barnacle geese but over the decades, they have increased to the current high of over 40,000 birds. Along with 10,000 pink footed geese, 1000 Canada geese and 1000 greylag geese, this autumn the sights and sounds of thousands of geese flying around the reserve is a fantastic wildlife spectacle that is not to be missed.
To celebrate the return of the wild geese, WWT Caerlaverock holds an annual Wild Goose Weekend, with talks, walks and family activities.This year the Wild Goose Weekend is on 12th and 13th October and includes a ‘Wild Geese from Wardlaw’ event held in partnership with SNH, a talk by a local author, a Creative Writing Workshop and a Dawn Flight event where you can see thousands of barnacle geese flighting into the reserve against the dawn sky.This year we are proud to be part of ‘Scotland and the Arctic: A Conversation’, a local festival held in Dumfries and as part of this we have professional storytellers visiting to tell engaging stories in our cosy yurt!
Join us to celebrate the return of the wild geese to the Solway!
