Pink Footed Geese

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This is a bit of a cheat! Its very wet and miserable here today so I am posting a video that I took a few years ago. The video was shot at the same time of the year 4 years ago and it was shot from the house so I think that makes it legal! We often witness fly pasts of geese. These events are especially common at migration times but we are within "commuting" distance of the big winter roosts on the Solway coast and around Morecambe Bay.These birds are winter visitors to us breeding in Spitsbergen, Svalbard, and Iceland in the summer months. These flocks sometimes land close by to graze. We always know when the are about as local farmers set "crop scarers" which set of explosions that sound like shot gun shots to scare them off. The geese seem to get used to it quickly and can sometime be seen grazing only one field away from the scarers. How do I know that these distant specks are pink feet? By the sound they make. I have the "Collins Bird Guide" App on my phone and for each species you can play a short track of the calls they make. A very useful bit of kit!

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