Last night out watching the pretty sunset the quiet was interrupted by
honking, then a large V of what I assume were geese came overhead,
heading north.

It seems quite early to be heading north, in spite of the warm weather.
We just had a first hard frost a couple of days ago, and the hazels are
out. Quite a lot of bud swelling going on, I'm afraid the tree peony is
going to leaf out. I expect there's quite a bit of cold on the horizon,
with perhaps snow expected next week (according to a local grizzled
farmer). Snowdrops blooming and daffs up, but that's not unusual.

Were the birds confused, or is this a normal time to go north? Or
perhaps they weren't geese?

-E



--
Gardening in Lower Normandy

On Sun, 12 Jan 2014 10:49:01 +0000, Malcolm wrote:

In article , Emery Davis
writes
Last night out watching the pretty sunset the quiet was interrupted by
honking, then a large V of what I assume were geese came overhead,
heading north.

It seems quite early to be heading north, in spite of the warm weather.
We just had a first hard frost a couple of days ago, and the hazels are
out. Quite a lot of bud swelling going on, I'm afraid the tree peony is
going to leaf out. I expect there's quite a bit of cold on the horizon,
with perhaps snow expected next week (according to a local grizzled
farmer). Snowdrops blooming and daffs up, but that's not unusual.

Were the birds confused, or is this a normal time to go north? Or
perhaps they weren't geese?

Could have been a local movement between lakes or feeding grounds. The
earliest movements north of geese in western Europe aren't usually until
late Feb/early March.

Could be I suppose. I wonder why they would winter around here though, I
believe they don't usually. It does sometimes get pretty cold...

-E



--
Gardening in Lower Normandy