Last Friday we went over to Lopwell Dam to have pasties for tea that my wife made (they were lovely!). We didn’t park in the usual area right next to the Dam but instead went further down the estuary to another small parking area which overlooked a wider part of the river.
The tide had just turned when we arrived and it was just before 5pm so a good time for birds and other animals to come out, but we didn’t really see anything apart from some ducks, a couple of Cormorants and lots of Canada Geese. And when I say lots, I mean there were 40+ of them flying down the estuary every now and again in groups. I think the biggest group must have been about 10-12 and the smallest just a couple (I assume a pair). We were there for about an hour and a half and every now and again we heard the sound of them coming down the estuary and another few flew by. It got quite funny in the end as we couldn’t believe how many kept flying by!
I had a look afterwards and Canada Geese are resident in this part of the country (Dartmoor) all year round and we do often see them at Lopwell Dam, just not in these numbers. They are quite large (bigger than a Mallard) and have a brown, white, cream and black colouring with their head being mostly black apart from a white strip on its throat. They also have a very distinctive call which can’t be missed.
Here is a picture from the RSPB website of a Canada Goose.
