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A client travelled on our 'Islay & Jura' holiday and submitted this entry to our writing competition.
Otter
The Wild Goose Chase
I’ve observed that birdwatchers are always keen to tell you what they haven’t seen. When they return from a day in the hides, and you ask with interest if they’ve had a good day, their response invariably starts with ‘Well, we didn’t see the ... ’
I wouldn’t call myself a birder. I’m interested in all aspects of natural history, especially our native flora and fauna, and I love being outdoors. So when the birdwatcher in the family suggested a trip to the Hebrides, I leapt at the chance to visit an area renowned for its mammals and spectacular avian shows.
The weather before our arrival had been just right. The mild damp weather had changed to something colder with a stiff breeze blowing in from the north. Over the two weeks before our trip, the geese had begun to arrive. By the time we got to Islay there were, we were told, more than 25,000 Barnacle Geese and several hundred White-fronts. It promised to be a good few days.
Each evening the leaders checked the local birding blog. Sure enough, there were tens of thousands of geese on Islay - and, even more exciting than all these (apparently), there was one Red-breasted Goose. The leaders checked the locations mentioned on the blog. They checked the weather forecast. They planned our next day so that we would be in the right place to take best advantage of the weather, to see the variety of wildlife that abounds and to stand a good chance of finding the Red-breasted Goose.
For three days we set off in the mornings when the sky was changing from velvet black through pink and lavender to the brightest clear blue. The rocks were silhouetted against the sunrise-filled sky. The geese were flying between their night-time roosts and their daytime feeding stations. The sea-ducks were just offshore. We saw divers catching and eating their fishy breakfasts. We drove to the fields where the geese gathered and we searched ... and we hunted ... and we strained our eyes through binoculars and telescopes. We saw hundreds - thousands - of geese but no Red-breasted Goose.
We drove on and repeated the exercise across many other fields. Suddenly all the geese flew up, looking like a murmuration of outsized starlings. A White-tailed Sea Eagle was hunting amongst them. We had stunning views of him, clear enough to be able to say that he was a second-year juvenile. When the geese settled again, we continued our hunt. Geese everywhere, but no Red-breasted Goose.
We drove to the other end of the island: fewer geese but the breathtaking sight of a pair of Golden Eagles playing together. A flock of several hundred Twite with a sprinkling of Bramblings and Redpolls amongst them. A pair of Choughs flew over our heads. We found a moth which obviously thought that it was warm enough for a late autumn flight.
We drove along the coast. We saw deer grazing gracefully by the side of the road. We saw seals lazing on the rocks or bobbing on the surface of the waves. We saw Otters eating eels and crabs, popping up like champagne corks and floating while they ate, before diving for the next course. They came out on the rocks and played like puppies, rolling on their backs and showing us their come-tickle-me tummies.
We returned to the geese fields at the northern end of the island. We saw harriers gliding low over the marshes, twisting, turning, hovering and dropping. We saw plants in flower when they shouldn’t be - foxgloves, buttercups, cranesbills. The fields were filled with football-crowds of geese - but no Red-breasted Goose.
In the evenings we returned to the blazing log fires in our hotel, over-filled ourselves with locally grown food and enjoyed the Scottish hospitality. We talked over the day and reminisced about our favourite moments.
The trip was everything that I had hoped it might be, and more. And a favourite memory? It would be very hard to pick out a highlight - there were so many breathtaking moments. The colours, the sounds, the smells and the sights. But for some who were there, it will be remembered, as all good birding trips are, for what we didn’t see - as the trip when we didn’t see the Red-breasted Goose!
With many thanks to Peter and Mike for their superb leadership and for trying, above and beyond the call of duty, to locate the Red-breasted Goose. It really was the best Naturetrek trip ever!
Read more about our 'Islay & Jura' holiday.