Flight Feathers
from greylag geese ~ answer anser
12-14' long, shed during migration molt
found in a marshy hollow strewn with feathers on Start point, Sanday
Leaving their Icelandic breeding ground in Autumn the geese stop in a safe and plentiful place to shed their flight feathers and rapidly grow new ones.
Due to global warming the number of greylag geese overwintering so far north on Sanday has dramatically increased. In the 19890's a few hundred ended their migration on Orkney; mostly flying further south in Scotland. Now tens of thousands stop here and the sky is filled with flocks until the spring. Stove is a favoured place: the geese settle on the bay, gently honking through the night especially when it is calm and the moon is bright.
