One of the most beautiful natural events of the year is the autumn arrival of the over-wintering geese. I can think of few things as evocative of the wild as a sky full of skeins of geese filling the air with their trumpeting calls. I always try to get away to Montrose Basin or Loch Leven to savour the spectacle and this year it was a short overnight trip to Loch Leven.
Having sat out heavy rain until late afternoon, my friend Graham and I walked the loch-side trail before climbing steeply through the birch trees of Vane Hill. The woods here were filled with robin song and droplets of rain hung from autumn berries. Eventually we cleared the trees and pulled up onto the top of the hill. It was chilly and breezy up here but would be our camp spot for the night.
Loch Leven stretched out below, dotted with wooded islands, and the craggy ridge of Benarty Hill stretched westwards behind us. Everything else was obscured by low cloud that cascaded over the flanks of Bishop Hill. Darkness was approaching as we pitched the tents and as we cooked supper, twinkling street lights below marked each of the villages around the loch. The distant voices of thousands of geese drifted up to our camp spot and sent us off to sleep.
Next morning before dawn, we picked our way back down through the woods by torchlight and settled ourselves by the loch-side to make coffee and eat breakfast before the morning take off by the geese.
Over the next couple of hours, huge flocks of geese rose one after the other looking like black clouds of giant insects. Straggly skeins of geese crossed the sky, their underwings catching the morning sun as it broke through the mist. And wave after wave of geese came over the hills to the north so that at times the sky in one direction was just full with geese. It was truly spectacular and deeply moving to be here this morning.
Eventually the activity dwindled and the sun began to gently warm the day. All was quiet and it was hard to believe the spectacle that we had just witnessed.
The Loch Leven Heritage Trail and Vane Hill can be accessed by train from Lochgelly by walking to Ballingry and using the path that connects Ballingry to the RSPB centre at Vane Farm; or by bus to Kinross and using the trail to walk to Vane Farm. The RSPB centre has toilets, hides and a cafe with a panoramic window looking over the reserve. Between the RSPB centre and Kinross is a shelter on a rise that gives great views over the loch and surrounding hills.
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