D & G Caerlaverock
Dumfries and Galloway Field Trip
4th and 5th December 2010
Despite the recent poor weather and some late cancellations six club members took a chance and set off on the first ferry from Rothesay to arrive at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust Centre at Caerlaverock, Dumfriesshire, in time for a look around the reserve before lunch. They were rewarded with some great weather and even better birding.
The Peter Scott hide with large numbers of wildfowl waiting to be fed by the warden.
These are all wild birds that take advantage of the twice daily distribution of food.
A male Wigeon
Whooper Swans, winter visitors from Iceland. There were upwards of 100 Whoopers on the reserve on the day of our visit.
Moorhen
A male Gadwall
Green-winged Teal,
A rare visitor from America, gave fantastic views as it paraded in front of the Peter Scott Hide during the distribution of feed.
Green-winged Teal and Eurasian Teal
The difference can be clearly seen in this picture with the vertical white stripe on the side of the American visitor contrasting nicely with the horizontal band on our Teal. The less well defined yellow markings on the face of the visitor are also clearly visible.
The main target for the visit was the wintering flock of Barnacle Geese. These are generally observed from the Tower Hide situated at the end of the Avenue, a tree lined walkway where good numbers of passerines are to be found. However, due to the freezing conditions Barnacle Geese were in short supply as can be seen from the above picture.
However, as the sun was setting the flocks of Barnacle geese made their way back to the reserve to roost for the night.
An impressive sight and well worth the wait.