Hallelujah, they're back!

There are not many about yet, and there is certainly not much for them to eat at the moment, but the first flocks of Canada geese have arrived and taken up residence in soggy, windswept farm fields and along the river.

At sunset this week, the long "v" shapes of returning skeins trailed across the sky.  The birds were magnificently silhouetted against the setting sun and drifting clouds, and their homecoming songs could be heard for quite a distance. As the moon is only a day away from full, conditions for night flying are perfect, and we hear geese overhead in the dark hours before dawn.

It is cold again here, but it doesn't matter a fig or a twitter or a hoot - the great geese are coming home, and warmer, brighter times are on the way.