New migration update 18 April 2020

As we had hoped and expected tag39 has made the journey north to join up with its mate Tag20.

A screenshot from the tracking website shows the two birds in close proximity.

Tag20 purple Tag39 yellow

Fresh Update on Spring Migration 2020

There has been a movement north of the male bird Tag20. After being at Saffle in Sweden for some time it has now moved north to the general breeding of our birds in Dalarna County Sweden.

 

Hopefully, its mate Tag39 will join it before too long.

This bird has moved into an area south of Tag24. 

Here is a couple pictures of what the breeding area can look like in Dalarna County

Typical breeding habitat

Bean goose pair on territory

News update on some of our Bean Geese

Just when we thought life at on the breeding areas in Sweden were in full swing our birds have decided probably that the weather is not suitable and have returned south to Braskereidfoss in Norway where they were earlier this month.

Tags 18 27 and 30 are all showing as being back south. Tag24 remains in Sweden but in a different location to where the others were.

Updated blog For 10 April 2020

Since yesterday there have been no movements of our birds to report.

In visiting my bean goose files on my pc today I had a look at some pictures that Simon Rix took last spring and thought I would share them and my thoughts with you today.

We have been extremely lucky in recent years that Simon in Oslo has found our bean geese in his birding haunts around Oslo. Not only does he report numbers and tag information but he supplies lovely pictures of the geese at the same time. I have looked out three of them today to share them with you with and of my recent thoughts about how geese behave as pairs and families.

One of the pleasures in recent years has been to monitor how pairs bond together and look after their juveniles in the early years. This is portrayed in one of the pictures below.
Bean Goose pairs stay together throughout their lives and when in Scotland during the winter it is normal to see pairs feeding together and rarely two metres apart. If they have juveniles of the year they too will be close by their parents which often is very useful when we try to work out how many juveniles we have within the flock. It has been noted at Slamannan, juveniles can often be seen with their parents in the 2nd year too before they eventually split up and move away to become young adults.

Earlier this year when visiting the RSPB reserve at the Crook of Baldoon near Wigtown at dusk I met up with some wildfowlers who were awaiting an appropriate time to go out on to the merse to shoot geese.

On reflection to what they do for sport/pleasure it made me think of what goes on in the mind of a wildfowler.

Why do they find it sporting/pleasurable to shoot one or more geese when the birds are flying in to and around a roost area. Do they ever think of the effect they have on a male/female goose who suddenly loses its partner to such a sudden death? Probably not and that makes me sad that humans can inflict such social anguish on this species.

Pictures below courtesy of Simon Rix.

4 pairs above (social distancing?)

A pair with one bird who had lost his collar. (note

metal ring on left leg)

Just a lovely picture

Update since yesterday on bean goose movements in Sweden

There have been further movements of our bean geese in the last 24 hours.

At Saffle in southern Sweden, we still have Whit20  UCOL 39 (Pair)

Now in Dalarna county, we have Whit 24,  UCOL 30, Whit 27 and Whit 18. We would expect the two birds still at Saffle to move north to the usual breeding areas.

Bean Goose website news:

We now have all of our Bean Goose reports including some Commissioned reports that have been completed in past years available now on the bean goose website

Please visit the website at https://sites.google.com/view/scotlands-bean-geese

The recent report for 2019/2020 covers in great detail all of what we think is important for the future health of our flock. I thank Brian Minshull and Rick Goater for their commitment and expertise in the producing of the reports in recent years.

I thank our webmaster Carl Mitchell of WWT who does all of the maintenance of the website in his own time.

Much of the knowledge on the migration of our flock has only been possible due to the wealth of information that the GPS tags have given us. These come at a cost of £1200 each. As you can imagine we do not have a steady source of income to purchase these and I would appeal to anyone be it an individual, wildlife group or company who would like to sponsor a tag to get in touch with me at angus.maciver184@gmail.com. Any amount small or large would be appreciated

Spring Migration Update

Two of our birds have made further progress in their migration. Tag Whit24 an adult male has moved further north in Norway from its previous position.

Tag18 a female has moved into Dalarna county in Sweden to the breeding area.

Other birds in Sweden near Saffle are still in the same location as before.

Whit 18 Adult female

Whit 24 Adult male