December days tempt us all to enjoy the comfort of a warm fire and a glass of seasonal cheer. This year, fight against it and head out to look for wild winter geese.

Oxfordshire is not a county that springs to mind for migrant geese but what does drop in is usually well worth looking for. Last winter seven Tundra Bean Geese visited a field near Aston for several days after their long flight from north-west Siberia to refuel before moving on.

Identifiable from the aptly named Pink-footed Goose by their orange legs and feet, they, like all wild geese, were extremely nervous, keeping to the far side of the field and always having one of the flock ‘on guard’ as the others fed.

As well as these elegant species, Oxfordshire has played host to Brent Geese, White-fronted Geese and the largest of the family, the Greylag Goose.

Unlike Brents the others are similar in plumage so take time to learn the differences in head, leg and beak tones. Both Bean and White-fronts have more uncommon subspecies in Taiga Bean and Greenland White-front for the more accomplished birder to pin down and test their identification skills.

As our European winters become milder the huge flocks of geese that once visited Britain are shrinking as birds feel they can overwinter in comfort closer to home than in years gone by.

In Gloucestershire, Slimbridge now gets only a few hundred White-fronts instead of the several thousand it previously enjoyed and hardly ever any of the delicate Lesser White-front it was once famous for attracting.

Otmoor is the place to start your search but any large area of winter crops, especially near water, is worth checking and do not expect large flocks as there will almost certainly be only a couple birds present.

Aston’s group was a real bonus and large parties, particularly of Greylags, are much more likely to be feral, resident birds and not migrants.

So, with scarf, gloves and hat in place and a good guide in the pocket, it’s time to walk the lanes and byroads of Oxfordshire for a special Christmas bird or two.

Keith Clack Oxford ornithological Society