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| Pittulie Castle with Peathill Kirk beyond and a field of watchful gleaning geese The storms of the last few days have removed the last vestiges of summer from the Buchan landscape, the last of the harebells and campions are gone - blasted by the wind, battered by the rain, only a few bedraggled yellow tansies and the white clusters of yarrow have survived. The winds that destroyed the flowers have brought in overwintering geese, curlews and starlings. Great arrows of honking geese, winging in from the sea in noisy skeins which graze on the stubble fields, restless and wary of passers by. Elsewhere by the shore there are large groups of curlews and flocks of starlings flying between field and shoreline where they chatter and rake through the storm debris. The nearby Loch of Strathbeg reserve reports record numbers of pink footed geese this year - around 64,500 -about 30% of the world population at the last count. At the dykesides rosehips glow brightly red and there are ripening brambles  |
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