Wild Goose Festival round up
The geese are ever-present in the colder months at Caerlaverock, but never quite as much as during the Wild Goose Festival. This year we hosted many events over the eleven days, connecting people with nature and celebrating the incredible migration of several geese species to the area, including barnacle and pink-footed geese.
Barnacle geese make an impressive migration from Svalbard to the Solway Firth for our warmer winters. The Solway is a perfect habitat for these geese as they roost on the mudflats at night so they can avoid predation before moving inland to graze on rye grass and white clover during the day.
This spectacle was witnessed during our Dawn Flights which despite the early and cold start was a fantastic event! Don’t worry if you were unable to attend this week, we have more scheduled monthly until February.
sunrise over the merse during a Dawn Flight event
Moreover, this species, despite being a grazing specialist, feed inefficiently on the grass by only pecking off the new shoots, so will continuously move round the fields to feed. We manage the grasslands in preparation for their arrival in October by topping the fields throughout the summer to keep the grass at a good length for them. At the moment, their numbers are fluctuating between 2,000 - 4,000 on and around the site but are expected to increase to up to 10,000 before the winter is out.
Meanwhile pink-footed geese migrate from Greenland and are seen on the site in lower numbers. They don’t tend to stay close to the Solway throughout the day, instead travelling further inland to feed, so often only up to 400 of them are on site in the day.
During the week, the team were able to pass on this knowledge and more to the public by hosting events like the beginner wetland birding and goose gander tours. We were able to explore Dumfries by visiting the Goose Festival Hub and taking part in the wildlife cycle tour which followed along the river Nith finishing up by bringing cyclists on site and down to the Saltcot Merse Observatory.
Lastly, this week provided the chance to see many species of garden birds up close during our ringing demonstration! This was a personal favourite of mine. Here, great tits, dunnocks, goldcrests, chaffinches and particularly feisty blue tits were rung whilst visitors were shown how to identify their sex and age.
great tit held in a hand after being rung during the bird ringing demonstration
It's safe to say that I haven’t seen the site quite as busy as it was this week. With the many events and pop-up cafe there really was a lot to do! Here at Caerlaverock we hope that everyone in attendance had a wonderful time and hope to see you again on the reserve soon.
Feature image of the Nith in Dumfries town centre with a tree on the left and the Rosefield Mills on the right
Words and pictures by Ed (Emily) Dixon
