Gosford Goslings

Cuter in large ("L").

Goslings! Eeeeee.
These are greylag goslings: there were 10 goslings (in two broods) on the ponds at Gosford Estate near Aberlady.

I've had another brilliant day in Edinburgh and East Lothian: we set out for Dirleton in the morning, with a few planned stops en route (and an open mind!). First, we drove around Arthur's Seat and the (Salisbury) Crags, and visited St. Margaret's Loch where there were lots of swans (and fully grown cygnets) as well as gull, mallards, and tufted ducks; the weather was bright and mild with a blue sky and interesting clouds, and the views were v. beautiful.

Our first stop was at the Gosford Estate (just before Aberlady): there is a farm shop there, and we also went for an amble along the footpaths. The farm shop had bird feeders outside and I got some nice shots of blue tits, great tits, and a chaffinch. Some of the paths led around the estate's collection of landscaped ponds: they are very beautiful, and are home to mallards, greylag geese, and swans (why/how only native species?). Whilst sneaking up on a greylag goose that had its head sticking up (like a periscope) out of a bed of daffodils, I heard a small peeping noise.

WHAT IS PEEPING?! My gosling radar went off...

There were indeed goslings: the geese there had five young goslings, and later in our amble we discovered another pair with five goslings (the ones pictured above). The house and its grounds were beautiful with more daffodils than I've ever seen before (providing lovely golden reflections in the water); the peace was only disturbed by the raucous cries of the greylags (when disturbed), and a man with a completely out of control dog that was chasing ducks and generally behaving badly.

We went on to Dirleton for lunch at The Castle Inn which was nice, and stopped off at a birding centre and various scenic spots on our way back to Edinburgh. I took panoramas of the firth of Forth with beautiful clouds and light, but fear that they'd look rather silly as narrow strips on blip... We also stopped (queued!) for an ice cream at S. Luca in Musselburgh: I had espresso coffee (...) and pistachio in a wafer cone which was just the job.

p.s. I'm not sure how, but I forgot to mention that we saw a hare bounding through the undergrowth at Gosford Estate which was very exciting.