Geese. Thousands of them.

With the twitching high priesthood descending for a conclave around a bush at South Shields, I decided to mooch over to Martin Mere for a gander at the geese.

Probably our greatest wildlife spectacle, the sight of thousands of geese descending from a crisp autumnal sky is enough to rouse even the most jaded wildlife watcher.

With relatively small numbers of wildfowl present and only a modest number of Whooper Swans back, the Pinks are bossing the mosses at the moment with numerous yapping skeins commuting to and fro across East Lancs.

Apparently a pair of Tundra Bean Goose has been accompanying the Pinks this year, but you would need the zen like concentration of a gull-watcher to pick ‘em out.

After dragging myself away, the day was finished off at Marshside. The field in front of Nel’s hide is still yet to flood properly, but it still managed to hold the largest numbers of Wigeon I have seen this autumn. This duck seems to have not arrived in any significant numbers yet, especially in comparison to Teal and the masses of Pintail that are building up on the Dee.

A stroll up the road to view the marsh near the Sandgrounder’s Hide produced cracking views of a female Merlin using its tightrope walker-like powers to perch precariously on an electric fence wire.

Also seven – possibly wild – Barnacle Geese were spotted tagging on to a flock of Pinkies flying out into the Ribble in search of some tasty grazing.

Until later.