Bog Myrtle & Peat

Out ferreting again today, I was amazed by the sheer quantity of geese that are out and about at the moment. From what I can gather, the pink feet have been forced down from Islay and the west coast of Scotland by all this hard weather, and there are now record numbers of geese on the Solway. It certainly seems to be true; I can’t remember a time when I have seen or heard so many birds.

They are clearly hungry and restless, swirling off the fields behind the house to return a few minutes later. As I type this, there must be two or three thousand on the face of the hill behind me, and listening to them chattering away in six inches of snow under the light of the moon is quite something. It’s almost worth keeping the window open for…