The first Icelandic Goose Count took place on the 14^th of October, with 40,715 Pink Footed Geese being counted.  Although still a great count, the number was considerably less than the 63,844 counted on the 21^st of September.  This could be due to fact that the weather on the morning of the count was terrible, with dense fog and hail.  Although the Geese are hardy creatures and aren’t usually fazed by this it made seeing and therefore counting them more difficult.  It is also possible that our peak was ahead of schedule this year, with a lot of the Geese arriving in September having moved further south in the UK to their permanent wintering grounds, hopefully leaving us with around 40,000 Geese overwintering on the basin.  The next Goose count is likely to take place next few weeks, so this count should shed more light on the situation!

A BBC television crew from the show Landward recently visited the Basin to highlight the spectacle of the Geese taking off at sunrise.  Presenter Sarah Mack met our Ranger Anna, bright and early, to go out into the reserve and see the Geese take off.  Although a long wait followed, the Geese finally did what they do best, and took off in huge numbers and created a lot of noise.  With both Anna and the Geese performing like stars of the silver screen, the programme did a great job of showing what the basin has to offer! Just follow the link below to watch the piece, but hurry as it is only available online for one more day.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01nh79c/Landward_2012_2013_Episode_17/?t=5m50s

Craig Shepherd,

Visitor Centre Assistant Manager