Country diary: ravenous brent geese fly in for an eelgrass feast

Strangford Lough, County Down: Thousands of light-bellied brent geese - three-quarters of the world's population - have arrived from Arctic Canada to overwinter hereFrom Island Hill, the sun rising above the drumlin sweep of the Ards Peninsula brightens the sky to a vast expanse of silver and azure that glazes the mudflats. Across the bay, and below Scrabo's folly, a vague hum of rush hour fades under the fluting yodels of oystercatcher and hysterics from redshank. From a freshwater channel there's a sudden flourish of white wings. Trailing black legs with pistachio-green feet, a little egret floats off to settle pristinely on a mess of mustard-coloured wracks.A faintly off-key throb draws my gaze further out. I adjust the spotting scope. Out of the mudflats' umber and dun, their matt and slick, a smudge resolves to a flock of light-bellied brent geese (Branta bernicla hrota), the noise a constant of their contact calls. Continue reading...