Arrival of wild geese heralds onset of autumn

Pink-footed geese have started to arrive at an Angus nature reserve.

A total of about 50,000 geese are expected to descend on the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Montrose Basin Wildlife Reserve and Visitor Centre.

Every autumn the geese migrate from Iceland to Britain to spend the winter months in a milder climate. They fly back to their breeding grounds around March or April.

The first 40 arrived at the reserve just before the weekend. They were joined by several thousand others on Saturday and yesterday and numbers are expected to continue to increase steadily the Basin until they reach their peak at the beginning of October.

The pink-footed goose, which is pinkish grey with a dark head and neck, a pink bill and pink feet and legs, is a medium-sized goose, smaller than a mute swan but bigger than a mallard.

It breeds in eastern Greenland, Iceland and Svalbard and winters in northwest Europe, especially Great Britain, the Netherlands, and western Denmark.

Staff and volunteers at the Scottish Wildlife Trust's Montrose Basin visitor centre will now monitor the geese population closely to see if it reaches the same heights as last year when more than 50,000 could be viewed from the visitor centre's observation window.