Flight Of The Wild Geese

Willie Shand welcomes the autumnal return of Scotland’s goose population.

 

JUST as sure as night follows day, spring follows winter, and summer, too, must eventually give way to autumn. Even before we had clocks and calendars, nature was providing us with signs of what lay ahead.

The new buds, daffodils, crocuses and lambs herald the spring, while the golden browns of the beech and bright yellow leaves of the birch are a sure sign that nature is preparing for winter.

One of the most spectacular signs of autumn is the arrival of the wild geese. From September, the great skeins, flying in their distinctive “V” formation, return to winter here.

They’ve flown a long way, too – most coming from Iceland, Spitsbergen and Greenland on their annual migration. And most will stay with us until it’s time to face the return journey around April.

As the harsher Arctic winter of their summer breeding grounds takes a grip, food becomes scarce, forcing them to fly south.

Over 370,000 pink-footed geese – that’s nearly 90% of the world’s goose population – will winter within our shores, with some of the best places to see them being Loch of Strathbeg in Grampian, Loch Leven in Kinross-shire, the Solway Firth and the Montrose Basin in Angus. Some will fly even further south into England.