Wild Goose Migration

“Geese settling in to roost on the estuary at dusk has been a favourite subject of mine lately... Usually I never quite know how the drawings work out until I get them home into the light.”

The geese have landed!...I've been drawing pink footed geese as they've arrived on migration in their tens of thousands along the east coast. They rest on the salt marshes (swipe to see) and forage in the arable fields. Although not always welcome such as in the potato field I found them one afternoon, they're arrival is a familiar sight and sound, heralding the change in seasons.

In the third image here barnacle geese forage along a falling tide line along a channel of an estuary. Most barnacle geese in this part of South East Scotland are temporary resting on their journey from Iceland and Greenland before moving on to West Coast wintering grounds such as Solway Firth. Pink footed geese numbers also dwindle towards November time and only a proportion of the peak 20 -30 000 roosting at Aberlady bay remain all winter. At Aberlady, in the first few days of their arrival from crossing the North Sea the pink footed geese come to the river exhausted to drink and wash away salt from their feathers in huge numbers close to the main village. Since then they have become more orderly, commuting between feeding grounds inland and their roost out on the mudflats far from human disturbance. Their need to drink and wash in the fresher water of the estuary sometimes, with the right timing brings them close to where I can draw them.

Geese settling in to roost on the estuary at dusk has been a favourite subject of mine lately. They continue to arrive in noisy skeins long after dark and make their manoeuvres towards the river in the twilight. Usually I never quite know how the drawings work out until I get them home into the light.