Golden eyes

[Kenn]

Having been watching "Springwatch," I was amazed to hear Simon King say that these are very rare birds, may be he should take a trip to Caithness as they seem quite common there especially on Wick river.
Does any one have and idea of how many breeding pairs there are in the county?

[the_count]

I know we get a lot here in the spring lizz but i think we only have a couple of pairs that stay this far north for breeding. i know that this spring there were about 15 pairs on the river in wick itself but these soon dispersed south. But i must admit they are a handsome duck

[kas]

Last I read it was estimated at 100 pairs breeding in the UK, with numbers increasing to 33 000 birds during the winter as birds come in from the continent. As you say, no shortage here in the winter.

That was one of my favourite bits of Springwatch seeing the goldeneyes leaping. I still think they should have got the bravery award over the LRP.