A few (Thousand) Pink-feet

A visit to my daughters in Lancashire allowed me to visit Martin Mere WWT reserve.  It happened to be late evening opening so that the Pink-footed Geese could be seen flying in to roost.  I arrived about 16:30 on a dull afternoon and had a quick look from the hides near the entrance so see what was around.  The answer was hundreds of wildfowl including Wigeon, Teal, Gadwall, Shoveler, Shelduck and several hundred Whooper Swans recently arrived from Iceland.
The light was very poor so the quality of the photos was affected,

Whooper Swans - Presumably a family party.

Then onto the "United Dairies" hide which offers a good view of the meadows were a large number of Pink-feet were already present, with some also on the main lake.

Pink-footed Geese - Just a small part of the flock present.  What I did not know that lots more were about to arrive!

As I was scanning the Pink-feet I heard a huge flock flying in and past the hide I was in.  I managed to video the geese on the ground and those coming in.  The numbers involved were anybodies guess but the Wildfowl and Wetlands numbers suggest that over 30,000 are currently using the reserve.  I can well believe it!  They streamed past me, past the birds on the ground, did a U-turn and came into land, joining those already on the ground, or on the lake.  An amazing spectacle.

These birds winter here after breeding in Spitsbergen, Iceland and Greenland.

The video above is not the best quality I have to admit.  It does go out of focus a few times but I could not change the settings while the action was going on and I only had one shot at it.  The other large flock that came in were much larger and in semi-darkness.  I feel it gives an impression of the overall spectacle.

Grey Heron - Watching the geese arrive.

Apart from the geese I did see a single Barn Owl, a Marsh Harrier and two Hares.  Well worth the visit.