News Update 15 December 2016

A large flock of bean geese (c150) have been present much of this past week north west of Slamannan

A roost visit tonight at Fannyside saw a flock of c100 birds fly in from the north and land in West Fannyside Loch.

I attach a couple of pictures taken recently of weather patterns seen on the plateau.

 Ben Vorlich and Stuc a'Chroin

viewed from Slamannan using a telephone lens

during the recent cold spell in November

Sunset at Slamannan 15 Dec 2016

Update on Bean Goose movements 3 Dec 2016

The wintering flock are quite widely spread in the Slamannan area most days.

Small groups have been noted well to the north and west of the plateau. But a look around the minor roads can often be rewarding.

I had a visit this past week by Larry Griffin from WWT who had come north from Caerlaverock to try and catch up with the bird 7T. This bird was caught in 2013 and fitted with a GSM collar which allows the information contained within to be downloaded periodically to follow its movements.
Luckly we caught up with it within the hour and were able to download data from March 2016 right through to October. It is fantastic that this collar is still working so well as it was made up by Larry at the time and virtually stuck together with glue.

The total flock size is still the same with 216 being the highest count so far.

Further checks for juveniles within the flock have been disappointing with only 4 seen this past week.