Tue 8th November 2011

A goose day- Malcolm e mailed with a record of 37 pale bellied brent geese on Loch Indaal near the Foreland road end. At Gruinart, Mary and I did a reserve goose count and found most of the geese in one massive flock. We counted a total of 9588 barnacle geese, 516 white-fronted geese and 50 greylags. Whilst looking for geese, we saw 130 lapwing, 15 whooper swans and a kestrel all at Gruinart.

Blackbirds were everywhere today, in small flocks along all the roadsides, including one unfortunate in the claws of a sparrowhawk.