It isn't often that I have my car in Glasgow due to my preference to fly between Glasgow and Southampton at weekends.  However, this week I did and that enabled me to connect with the recently returned flock of Taiga Bean Goose that over winter to the northeast of the city at Fannyside Lochs near Cumbernauld on Monday morning. 

   Earlier in the year I added Bean Goose to my UK list but that was just a single bird in company with a flock of Greylag Goose South of Ringwood in Hampshire on the county border with Dorset.  This time though I got to see a flock that numbered at least 82 birds – the exact number was difficult to determine due to the close proximity of some individuals to one another and clods of earth looking remarkably like a bird at rest. 

   At 1015 on the morning of 5 Oct 09 the flock was located in a grass field [NS8272] on the North side of the B803 and viewable no more than 200m East of the small car park at [NS818718].  I was able to watch the birds for forty-five minutes before I had to reluctantly head back to Glasgow to ‘turn to’ on DAUNTLESS. 

Good birding,

Tony T   BSc (Hons) Geosci (Open)