(photo Mike Andrews)
The first barnacle geese of the winter arrived yesterday - only 2, but it's a start! They arrived on the loch in the mist and rain yesterday morning. This morning they are feeding on our pastures among several hundred greylag geese which may well have come in on the same wind as them. This early pair will be scouts, the main arrival will be in the next couple of weeks.
'Our' barnacle geese make the 1,400 mile trip from NE Greenland each year, and include a stop-over in Iceland to re-fuel. Loch Gruinart is the first shallow sea loch the birds see. On the main arrival day, Loch Gruinart is transformed into the goose equivalent of Heathrow. Over 40,000 barnacles along with thousands of Greenland White-fronted geese who overwinter on Islay each year. It's really something to watch from our viewing platform as hundreds of 'V's of geese make their way down the loch. And the noise is staggering!
If you are planning a visit in October to see this spectacle, we run late afternoon walks every Wednesday in October - the best time to appreciate the full volume of the flock!