A Walk With the Caerlaverock Geese

This is the time of the year when a visit to Caerlaverock is a must as there are so many Geese wintering there. We were last over there a couple of years ago. The weather was perfect today, although in the distance Criffell was continually covered with low cloud. The path took us along the Solway Merse and the sea was about half a mile away, but you could see signs that high tides had brought the sea to almost where we were standing.

Just a few hundred yards from the visitor centre was a field absolutely full of Canada Geese. There must have been well over a thousand of them there. This is just a few of them just before they flew away.

Off they flew but just about 100 yards to the other side of the field

Half way on our 5.5 mile walk we had our morning coffee in this bird hide. 

We then headed to Caerlaverock Castle and first of all to the sight of the old castle build around 1220 and demolished about 50 years later. The site was so damp that the walls started to crumble. This is the moat and is now just a marsh with no clear water to be seen.

This is the elevated sight of the old castle with the moat surrounding it.

The new castle built 200 yards further north from the old one. On return to the visitor centre we had a light lunch in the Osprey Cafe which was acceptable but not that great.