Jan 29th-
A calm over cast morning tempted me back to the Rossie Bog area in Fife. It had been cold enough over night for the main flood to be frozen and there were no roosting geese or swans there. Also a scan of the bog from various angles came up with only 3 Common Buzzards and no other raptors. However a little further up the road just NE of Easter Kilwhiss Farm a good number of Pinkies(500+) were dropping into a root crop by the roadside. A search through quickly picked up 2 Euro White Fronts, then a Pinkie with a white neck collar, even when I cropped in with the pic I couldn't read it properly, there should be 2 numbers and a letter. However having already had a look on the internet this bird appears to be from a colour ringing project in Flanders, Belgium and hopefully when I send off the pics someone will be able to reconise this individual. New groups were dropping in all the time and patience was further rewarded with a Tundra Bean that suddenly appeared on the brow of a ridge. There also 6 Roe Deer feeding unconcerned here. It's nice to be able to find a quiet road where you can safely use your car as a mobile hide. Another non avian highlight was a big sleek Fox prowling the edge of the bog.

Unusually large numbers of Euro White Fronts arrived in Scotland from November and now there is a chance that you can come across both these and Greenlands. Bill colour, shape, plumage tone, tertial and tail pattern(not visible here) makes these albifrons.

An exceptional influx ofTundra Bean Geese started in Scotland in November and at the moment you stand a good chance of picking out at least the odd one or two with the larger flocks of Pinkies. Not always that easy with dull light making bare part colouration difficult to judge but this Tundra Bean at the rear still shows orange tones to it's bill band. Also the band is restricted in nature and dosen't bleed down the sides of the bill. The bird also has a rather more uniform dark ground colour to the plumage along with prominent whitish feather edges eg on the tertials. The head looks larger and lumpier than the Pinkies.