A picture post for young Geoff; Brent Geese in May

My twittersphere chum Geoff was taken aback by my tweet today on Brent still being in reasonable numbers  along the south shore of the Medway (944 the exact level of reasonableness).

Brent Geese can hold on into June if the weather is cold enough, and a small number oversummer. Since moving back I have recorded Brent in 41 months out of 41... but I'm sure Geoff's now gone and put the mockers on that for me.

Here's a selection of May pics from 2013- 2016 just for you sir:

The Brent Often feed on the regrowing enteromorpha (sea lettuce)

and will feed on floating enteromorpha in the shallower waters

Specks along the Millfordhope Creek-
only way to count birds spread among the islands
is from the vantage points

Groups readying to departing often loiter mid-estuary,
making aborted flights towards the mouth.
They favour leaving just after dawn.

The birds have chosen to short-stage here rather than the Waddenzee.

Many of our British winterers stage on the Waddenzee
at the same time- they do not like to arrive on their
nesting grounds until the snows are gone

Birds often follow the tide in close to shore

The birds are spread throughout, usually in loose flocks of between 20 and 50,
slowly coming together in groups of about 200 pre-migration

Saltmarsh regrowth is also taken in abundance in warm Mays

Individuals will cover some distance by foot to get to new supplies

Back in the 90s counts (for the whole estuary) were similar to this
(since then no full May WeBS coverage, and often under-reported
by birders)