The numbers of winter geese roosting on Loch Garten is starting to pick up as the temperature is dropping, daylight hours are diminishing and winter is slowly seeping in. Alison, our community ranger, shares her experience of the evening goose roost on the loch.
"Ever experienced a goose roost at dusk?
Standing patiently on the shores of Loch Garten between 6pm and 7pm you will be rewarded by the sight and sound of approaching geese coming in to roost on the loch in their family flocks. Currently it’s Greylag (Anser anser) but we can expect Pink-footed geese too, anything up to 1,000 geese use the loch as a safe retreat for the night. These numbers can fluctuate throughout the season due to changes in weather, the loch freezing for example, and feeding patterns.
Listening to the sounds of water fowl settling on the water as daylight turns to twilight is truly magical. The waves lap and the pines wave in the wind. Grey clouds amass, threatening but never quite delivering. Mallards quack in the reeds laughing at each-others’ dreadful jokes. Sixteen Goosanders fly in low and fast, turn abruptly in mid-air as they’ve just spotted the perfect place to be. Gracefully they land in a line, scattering about as they allow the waves to take over their formation. A little light grooming and then heads turn to lie on their soft downy backs; another day done.
The loch settles again. Darker now. The out-line of distant hills wane in the gathering gloom – indicating an instantly recognisable time that’s neither night nor day. Rooks and Jackdaws are next – buffeted by breezes they flap their wings like oily rags, craw craw-ing and jack jack-ing as they make their way purposefully over the trees towards the west.
I’ve almost given up. In my binoculars I can just about see the outline of the Goosanders and a little way behind them, three Goldeneye – yep … large round domed heads dwarfing small pert bills.
18.50pm and apart from the wind and the lapping water – it’s quiet now. The Mallards are all joked out. I reach for the telescope to begin a walk back to the car park through a now, dark forest. But I smile spontaneously in reaction to the strident honking that has suddenly pierced this tranquil scene.
By Ian Maltravers
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In they come.
Their outlines muted by the darkness but white tail feathers and pale underwings tell me that it’s a flock of about 15 – although it’s difficult to be certain.
What a rumpus. Nothing graceful about this lot. Crash-landing unapologetically, raucously announcing their arrival counting each other in (so it seems). The cacophony simmers to soft honking and then rises again as another flock flies in – calling to each other and the gaggle on the loch responding in kind. The familiar V flight line disintegrates as they ‘whiffle’ downwards, banking to the left and right using the up-draught to apply the brakes.
They came in so fast, I had no chance to count – but the dense dark raft of birds I can see forming through the telescope, indicates a doubling of numbers.
Excited now I resume my perch on the rock.
There is anticipation in the air and on the loch. The wind has gathered pace. Mallards are agitated as more geese, Greylags again, pile in but from the West this time, flying over my head - calling, calling, announcing, announcing. Honking responses guide them in. Down they wiffle, skid and slide onto the water; greet and reply. The dark raft of birds grows.
By Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.co.uk)
Two more skeins come in but by this time it’s really dark, and I am no longer able to make out the birds in the air or on the water. Only the noises keep me on a bearing. Accumulative total? From the noise, the quantity of geese in other groupings and number of skeins counted, I reckon nearly 200 birds have arrived for the night.
So sudden - they fall silent. I shine a torch on my watch. The whole absorbing spectacle only took 10 minutes maximum.
Goose roosts make me tingle. Geese have been doing this for millennia. Family groups go back generations which ensure migration routes are imprinted. Geese arrive from Iceland, Scandinavia, Greenland, Russia and Siberia and begin to reach Scottish soil late September and October; their purpose, to re-fuel and rest.
Some (like Barnacle and White-fronted) head Scotland’s west coat and over to Ireland, others like the sociable Pink-footed goose (Anser brachyrhynchus) are more ubiquitous, as they seek grasslands and marshlands for rest stations. Numbers peak in November; 120,000 (and counting) individual Greylags (Scottish breeding population plus migrants); and 240,000 Pink-feet (80-90% of the European population). Currently Montrose Basin holds 70,000. Imagine what that looks and sounds like at dusk!
Mid-winter sees numbers dip as they fly further south – most onto estuaries such as the Wash, Morecombe-bay, and the Thames, others fly as far south as France, Spain, Turkey and even North Africa.
Geese movements and migrations is a breath-taking phenomenon. And there’s one happening right on your doorstep. With a jaw-dropping setting of mountains, moorland, pines and lochs, sit and watch a trickle of geese build to a cacophonous goose jamboree at dusk on Loch Garten. What are you waiting for? Turn up around 5pm for a ring-side seat. Make the most of it – it’s all done in an hour!"
If this does sound like your cup of tea, we’re running goose roost watches on the Loch throughout late October and November. Times and dates are weather dependent so will be announced. Follow us on twitter and facebook for updates.
First Goose Roost Watch: Tuesday October 28th.
Park Loch Mallachie Car park from 5pm and head down to the shore on the Green Trail. Free hot drinks to keep you warm.
Bring binoculars, a torch and plenty of warm layers!!
Mike downloaded the data from the osprey's trackers today and reports that both are still doing well. Continuing to fly around their home territories and travelling short distances to wet areas for fishing. As always, little news is good news for our young birds.