Our hardy volunteers got up bright and early this morning and headed out onto the reserve to carry out a Pink Footed Goose count, arriving at a final number of 46,769.

Although this number is lower than last years peak of 63,844, which was counted a few weeks earlier on the 21st of September, this isn’t wholly unexpected.  The summer was much cooler last year, both here in Scotland and at their breeding grounds, with colder Autumn temperatures also arriving much sooner last year than this. Therefore resulting in the geese starting their migration south earlier than expected last year and thus an early peak number being counted. 

2011’s peak of 63,356 counted on the 12th of October is perhaps a better indication of when we would be expecting numbers to peak.  So we still expect, or at least hope, to count a much higher number of our most famous visitors later in the month. There is an Icelandic Goose Count (IGC) taking place this Sunday, the 13th, so we will update the numbers early next week.

Craig Shepherd,

Visitor Centre Assistant Manager.