Pinkies are Perky

I was back at Vane Farm last week (this time accompanied by my friend Grant) and was amazed at how much things had changed since I was last there at the end of July. I don't mean the buildings or the layout of the RSPB reserve they had not changed but the difference in the wildlife was definitely noticeable.
Some of the beautiful wildflowers were still evident, like this lovely stand of cornflower:

Cornflower in the Meadow

It was a welcome splash of colour in a meadow that had mostly gone to seed.
Back in July I was buzzed by a super-charged Dragonfly which was almost impossible to photograph; however this time I found a very sluggish Dragonfly sunbathing on a bench, which was easy to snap:

Common Darter

Out on the wader scrape the waders had been usurped by a noisy band of geese and ducks, and the Glossy Ibis was long gone:

Geese & Ducks on the Wader Scrape

When we first arrived these were predominately Greylag Geese, but that was all about to change:

Greylag Geese on Island in Scrape

Over the next few hours we observed Pink-footed Geese arriving at the loch on their return from their Summer breeding grounds in Iceland and Greenland. Initially they came in flocks of twenty or thirty but then they started to arrive in their hundreds, flying right over our heads as they made their way to the loch:

 

 These Pinkies (as they are affectionately known) are much more timid than the Greylag Geese and chose to land on the loch or at the edge of the loch a couple of hundred metres away from where we were. Having just arrived from Iceland and Greenland they are both hungry and wary so by landing on or near the loch meant that they could check there were no predators on the land before starting to graze on the nearby fields.
If you look at the last video you can see the geese 'wiffling' ; this is when they turn on their side or even on their back in an attempt to lose altitude before they land. It is quite fun to see and I'm just glad aircraft don't do the same.
At this stage they are very twitchy and liable to take flight at the first sign of danger. The silhouette of a Buzzard in the sky can be enough to put them up, even though a Buzzard is unlikely to prey on a bird as big as a Pink-footed Goose.
There were no Buzzards around as far as we could see, but the Pinkies were still very nervous. Further inland from the loch-side we did however see a large bird of prey, a Marsh Harrier, it was being chased by a crow which was half its size.

These birds of prey will try to avoid such confrontations as they don't want their flight feathers damaged, which might affect their ability to hunt successfully. Having shaken off the attentions of the crow the Marsh Harrier provided us with a little flying display:

The Pinkies and the Marsh Harrier were not the only birds taking to air, as a family of Mute Swans made a bit of a splash as they took off from the wader scrape:

By mid-afternoon the Pinkies had settled down a bit and some had even flown across to the far end of the wader scrape, so we were able to observe them with our telescopes. They were still a bit touchy and occasionally a few would get spooked, taking to the air and flying around a bit before settling back down:

Pinkies on the move

Flying Pinkies

On one occasion a few Pinkies took to the air which caused a chain reaction and the whole mass of geese (Pink-Footed and Greylags) rose up in unison. There must have been over a thousand of these large birds in the air swirling around for minutes before eventually coming back down to land. I don't know what spooked them but it was very dramatic.

Eruption of Geese

 I don't think this photograph can really capture the spectacle (or noise) of all these geese taking to the air at once, hopefully the following video will give you some idea. Pump up the volume for the most dramatic effect:

It was a great spectacle to witness and one that will stay in the memory for some time to come.
I hope you enjoyed me sharing this with you.

cheers

Teddyedward

P.S. If you are under the age of fifty you probably won't get the reference in the title of this blog...................you could try googling it??