A breeding bird, mainly in Scotland, whose numbers are increased twentyfold in winter by migrants from more northerly breeding grounds. Rarely seen in
breeding plumage in the south of England, an occasional early returning bird (probably a failed breeder) is still unmoulted. Large flocks form in winter, usually found in fields especially near water.
They are frequently at Frampton, my local reserve where the flock was taken, and such a flock in flght is probably the easiest means of detecting an American or Pacific Goldie by their dusky axillae.
