Wednesday 22 February 2012

Brent geese on the river Exe


(Spot the odd one out)

I drove up to Exeter at the weekend to do some long-distance kayak training on the canal. Luckily I still had time to have a look along the estuary afterwards. Curlews, Lapwings, Pochard, Shovelers, and Widgeon can all be found in abundance. But I decided to focus on The Brent Geese. These small black Geese may not look like much, but they've migrated here from breeding grounds on the Arctic Tundra, several thousand Kilometres away. On the way they can fly at speeds bordering on 100 Km/h!
Seeing the tightly-packed flocks shoot over head is fantastic, but their's also a chance  of spotting a real rarity, The Red-brested goose, A stunningly marked, rare migrant from Russia, which can occasionally be seen feeding among a brent goose flock.

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