Pole Star Posted May 5, 2012 Report Share Posted May 5, 2012 Every year I see the greylags start to get restless when the weather gets better & the evenings start to lenthen a bit . Thats when on nice aftenoos & evenings I take the time watch them go across the sea on the long journey to Iceland . But this year some thing happend wich I had not seen before as 2 long flights of greylags started to call to each other & as expected they joined up into a large V formation over my cottage & headed off in the evening sky . So as always I got my binoculars & watch them head off out to sea then about a mile or so out one half of the V suddenly broke off & returned inland & when reaching the shore they & turned south ! & I wonder why ? . Has anyone else seen this happen ?. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdubya Posted May 5, 2012 Report Share Posted May 5, 2012 they probably saw the weather forecast as for seeing sights not seen before (to me) I witnessed a huge group skein game whatever they call it of swans flying over my workplace heading north lovely to see as it was in bright sunshine and they really shone white cheers KW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pole Star Posted May 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 8, 2012 they probably saw the weather forecast as for seeing sights not seen before (to me) I witnessed a huge group skein game whatever they call it of swans flying over my workplace heading north lovely to see as it was in bright sunshine and they really shone white cheers KW Thanks for your input KW yes its always a great sight to see when they go just as it is to see them come back , well I have not as yet seen a greylag with a tv or radio . The birdie bit in my thick bonce has been thinking about this for some time & wondering what caused one half of this skein to break away ! ? . So what about this suggestion ? one half of these geese my have been local Orcadian bred birds that responded to the calls of icelandic migrating geese only to find a mile out to sea it was not such a good idea but then I am a LOON ! so I would try to think like a goose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdubya Posted May 8, 2012 Report Share Posted May 8, 2012 Thanks for your input KW yes its always a great sight to see when they go just as it is to see them come back , well I have not as yet seen a greylag with a tv or radio . The birdie bit in my thick bonce has been thinking about this for some time & wondering what caused one half of this skein to break away ! ? . So what about this suggestion ? one half of these geese my have been local Orcadian bred birds that responded to the calls of icelandic migrating geese only to find a mile out to sea it was not such a good idea but then I am a LOON ! so I would try to think like a goose dont worry there is only one on here who is as mad as a goose think he is indigenous to Essex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anser2 Posted May 8, 2012 Report Share Posted May 8, 2012 (edited) Pole star i suspect your explination is correct. One unusual feature our local pinks sometimes do is when flighting in to feed at dawn having flown a mile inland some skiens split and fly back out onto the muds , land and after a short while take off again heading for the feeding grounds giving us fowlers a second chance. I have shot geese in many places and never seen them do this elsewhere. One of the funniest things I saw was one evening during the full moon a flock of about 100 pinks came in off the sea and joined a thousand strong flock that had been feeding on a beet field all day. As it got dark the field geese decided that it was time to flight out to the sands to roost and all the geese lifted and started to head out for the sea. But then the late arrivals decided they wanted to feed , not have another sleep and changed direction by 180 degrees within the main thousand strong skein. The result was 100 pinks flying the wrong way with the thousand strong flock and geese swerving in all directions to get out of each others Edited May 8, 2012 by anser2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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