Restless
This time of year gets me nostalgic for my childhood home which lay smack bang on the autumn migratory path of vast numbers of Pink Footed Geese. Flocks numbering many thousands of birds would fly over our house, and by the time they had reached us they could already see their final destination – the wetlands of Martin Mere. So those birds would be honking excitedly, silhouetted against the sky from early morning and they’d keep coming throughout the day and all through the night, and in a dismal suburban town it was one of the most thrilling evocations of wildness I’ve ever seen. The birds in the picture above are not Pink Foot but Barnacle Geese, and as they are exceptionally tame and find their home in the London Wetland Centre, it isn’t quite the same. But an Autumn without geese is a sorry thought, so here to welcome in the true sights sounds and smells of Autumn are the very best geese I could find. I’ll write more about the wetland centre some other day, but in the meantime I hope you are enjoying your autumn and all that it evokes for you.
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The honking of geese always signals Fall for me, too. That, daytime temperatures less than 27 C, and the appearance of pumpkin spice lattes at the Starbucks.
Autumn leaf color is always a late, around here.
Less than 27 C? Wow, I’d be glad to see summer go if it were always that hot here!
I’m not sure if we get pumpkin spice latte here in the UK, but I do notice an upsurge in pumpkin coloured plastic tat in the shops
Does that mean you were somewhere around Salford Stockport Manchester?
It must have been a great sight watching them fly over
henry
We don’t have much in the way of geese in the extreme SW corner of the US where I am. But since we’re on various migratory routes, we have so many other birds that make our skies and gardens more interesting this time of year. It’s wonderful that autumn isn’t just a change in the weather, but a whole shift in what the world offers us.
OH MY GOD! Martin Mere! I practically grew up there
I love that place soooooooooooooooooooo much.
Thanks for sharing your lovely geese. We’re starting to see the migratory birds here in Southern Louisiana, too. Ironically, we typically get more birds here during the Winter than the Summer! I’m looking forward to the return of “usuals” to our feeder this year.
@soulmerlin:- Noooo, more Wigan Bolton Bury, although none of those precisely, that was just the postal area
@James:- I agree, migrations make us see how much bigger and more restless the world is, it takes us out of our small neighbourhood and in to a bigger picture. Oh, and “welcome!”
@Claire:- Really? Me too! I looooved that place as a child – and as an adult too
@Lana:- I guess that having a kindly winter climate would make you a target for overwintering birds, so I can imagine that the coming months will be great birdwatching time for you. I hope you start to see your old favorites soon