At 5.20 this morning the team met up for one of the last goose counts for the season. Following on from the weather last week it was remarkably cold again but at least it was not raining.
Having been stuck at the north end counting point for most of this season - where I saw virtually no geese (9 out of a count of 63000 on one memorable day!) - I was pleased to move to the western count site as our regular counter was not free today.
In contrast to the start of the season when the geese dawdle in bed for half the morning today they were all business and by 5.30am the first ones were winking away past us.
Amazingly by 6.45am it was all over - we had 11300 going west from the reserve and the final count for the day was just under 12500. Not bad for April.
It meant I was able to get home in time to join my kids in the easter egg hunt around the house!
Dom