There's been a couple of extra surveys on the go this week at Strathbeg. This weekend was the date set for the National Beached Birds Survey. This is a nationwaide survey diesgned to count the number of 'wrecks' or dead seabirds on our beaches and if any of them (and if so how many) seem to have died because of oil or other pollution out at sea. It's also a great excuse to go for a walk along thefantastic beach between Rattray and St Combs. I was on transport duty this time round and so I dropped Iain, Katherine and Jessica at Rattray (I may or may not have taken to opportunity to have another good look at the Desert Wheatear while I was down there) and left them to it.
Beached Birds is one of the few surveys where finding nothing is good news and I'm glad to report that they found no dead birds on the beach at all this time round. There were plenty of live birds including Eider, Long-tailed Duck and Red-throated Diver, lots of Sanderling and a very close encounter with a Grey Seal on the tideline. If you fancy an explore on the beach, we'll be running a guided walk to and from the lagoon on the afternoon of Sunday May 26th so keep an eye on our events page or give us a ring for a bit more information.
This morning was time for an extra Goose Count. It had been a very clear night and a full moon so we weren't expecting huge numbers. On the plus side I got to see the sun rise over Rattray Head on a clear day for the first time, the only other time I've done a count at the north end was in truly miserable weather about two years ago. As expected the final count for the morning was just under 10,000 Pink-feet. We'll know in a few weeks time if this is an odd low count or if this is the first sign of our geese heading north for the summer...