A movement took place yesterday commencing at 0930 with a flock of bean geese leaving Slamannan for Denmark.
This flight was recorded thanks to the GPS tracker on Tag5 which has given us superb information on the detail of the movement.
It is likely that previous movements of geese had taken place this spring but unrecorded due to lack of Tags on birds.
See attachment below of flight information.
The bean goose flock have managed to survive the varied weather that we have had this winter. The cold spells with much frost on the ground did not upset them in any way. Always managing to find grass with exploiting woodland edges. During extreme frost they as usual spent some nights sitting on their feeding areas rather than fly to ice covered ponds. Fortunately one of the preferred roost lochs is quite deep and often contains open water at these times.
In recent weeks a flock of c200 Pinkfeet have been in the same area as our bean goose flock which has often made identification awkward depending on the amount of sunshine and which direction it is coming from when looking through binoculars or telescopes.
We hope to have our flock of around 150 or so birds for a week or two more before they depart to their breeding grounds in Sweden.
We have had a variety of visitors from the south this winter and have managed on occasions to escort some of them when they have arrived at Slamannan.
We had a nice visit from Ashley Cooper from the Lake District who had come to photograph the 'Beans' for a new book on British birds.
Ashley is probably better known for a book he published in November 2016 titled 'Images from a warming planet'.
This is a book about change. About the way that the climate is already changing and the way it will
change even more dramatically in the future. Well worth a read for anyone interested in the natural world. ISBN 978-1-5262-0952-6.
I attach a lovely shot of a small group of bean geese that flew over our heads when out on the plateau. Photo courtesy of Ashley.
We now have received an update from Tag5 and it shows in depth the migration flight path from near Oslo to Slamannan on 27/28th September 2024.
The map below shows the complete route, below is the detail it gave us. Total flight time was 21.5 hrs.The birds left a roost lake c30miles SW of Oslo at 0400 on the 27th.As tag5 neared to east coast it had been flying at 110kph but then dropped to 60-70 and always travelled just at wave height or up to 40m or so above. Came ashore at Whitby and then up country towards Keilder and then home to Fannyside Muir at 0130 on the 28th. There was a little pause at Burnhope Reservoir in Pennines for 30mins at 1900.
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After the arrival on 27th September of the flock of birds from Norway, it is now believed that we have had another arrival, possibly of more birds from the Swedish group that we saw during our visit in early September.
Recent visits to the plateau would indicate that we now have c167 birds, which is about similar to the total we had last year.
Unfortunately they are not showing well in daylight hours at present but feeding in a remote part of the plateau, cunning devils..
As is usual at this time of the year we would ask interested birders to adhere to sensible behaviour and not upset the farming community that we rely upon to care for our flock. Thank you..
The flock of birds that we saw whilst in Norway have now arrived on the Slamannan Plateau.
The flew across the North Sea on 27th September, leaving the Norwegian coast near Loshavn at approximately 07.15, and were offshore by 07.34.58. Flight details shown below show them heading for the coast near Sunderland/Middlesbrough at 12.35. Once onshore they turned north and flew north near Newcastleton and arrived at East Fannyside Loch to roost.
They spent the following day feeding near Garbethill Muir and flew to roost again at 1932 hrs. Latest information today (29th) is that they flew again to previous location to feed, (see map below of migration flight) The system should backup in a day or two once batteries are recharged and hopefully be able to show you complete flight.
Our group visit to Sweden and Norway went well with no hitches in our travel arrangements or accommodation.
The bean geese behaved well too with our first visit near Saffle on 3 Sep with our host Dan Mangsbo who has been monitoring the geese in Sweden for many years.
After a drive of about 15 mins we arrived in an agricultural area with surrounding woodlands which gave us some cover to view the geese some few hundred meters away. The count flock of bean geese was 193 with approximately 200 Canada Geese close by in the same area. We were able to read collars, X3 and V6. Nice too was to note approximately 18 juveniles.
After about 15 minutes we left this first stop to go to Lake Brosjon (see map below) where Dan expected the birds would fly in at about 9.45am.
Lake Brosjon is a super wetland area which is well used by migrating birds. Also in attendance was a Sea Eagle who was also there to keep a check on what the geese were doing.
Bang on 9.45 all of the geese flew into the lake with both flocks birds keeping there own natural distance on landing on the water. We stayed in this area for about one and half hours before retiring to a nearby cafe for lunch. It was really good that Dan was able to come and meet us and establish a good rapport for the future. (see photos below).
On leaving Saffle we drove 192 kms taking us 2hrs 37mins to Arns in Norway so to be in easy reach of meeting up with Simon Rix (The Oslo Birder), who we were to meet the following day.
Dawn broke on the 4th and after breakfast set off to meet up with Simon our taiga bean goose man in Norway. Simon arrived on time and we soon set off to nearby Neskollen to view the bean geese who were in the area.
A flock of 95 birds were in a stubble field a few hundred meters from the roadside. With them were 10 Canada Geese. We managed to read collars 5, 27 and V8, all birds previously caught and ringed in Scotland. The weather which up till now had been good suddenly changed with heavy rain making it difficult to scope the birds. We didn't linger long and soon departed to a warm place for coffee. Great to meet up with Simon again and reinforce our working relationship. (see pic below)
left to right, Carl Mitchell, Rick Goater, Dan Mangsbo, Angus Maciver, Brian Minshull
Simon Rix and Angus Maciver
We have information recently from Dan in Sweden that up to 176 Taiga Bean Geese have arrived in their usual place near Saffle in Sweden.
A few days later it was noted that the other flock had moved south towards another usual spot north of Oslo where Simon Rix reports on the birds as they move through his locality.
On top of this five of our Bean Goose Advisory Group are jetting out to Sweden on Monday for a four day trip to meet up with our contacts, Dan in Sweden and Simon in Norway.
This is a wonderful opportunity for us to get together socially and bond with both Dan and Simon who help us so much study this group of birds.
I look forward in reporting back to you with hopefully some pics of the bean geese.