Country diary: the vanguard from Svalbard

Caerlaverock, Dumfries and Galloway: Barnacle geese take off in a clatter of wings and yapping calls, swirling over the merseThey returned in record-equalling time: 28 barnacle geese, dropping out of the sky on 16 September, to the merse (the Scottish word for salt marsh) at Caerlaverock. As the geese came down, the Norwegian flag was raised on the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust reserve, a celebration for their safe return and the changing season. Autumn, on the shores of the Solway Firth, arrives in skeins, with a breath of Arctic air, a touch of Arctic wild.There's a hide at the edge of the reserve, where the merse-flanked firth is rolled out like a rug in front of the Cumbrian fells. This hide might be at the end of Scotland but it offers views in every direction. North: blue sky, the deep green of hill farms, and swallows flying towards the glass windows, veering up at the last moment to their still-used nests in the hide eaves. Their chattering calls a loud sound of summer, the short-tailed juveniles learning how to use their wings that will take them south to the tip of Africa any day now. Continue reading...