Since fitting three new collars on our bean geese on the evening of the 5th November a great amount of information is now being made available into the distribution of our birds in and around Slamannan. I attach a picture of the distribution of our birds since then.
After a couple of unsuccessful years in trying to catch some more bean geese it is great to tell you that we managed to catch and ring 7 Bean Geese on 5th November. Collars have been fitted to all birds with 3 birds having GPS collars fitted which will give us more information on their travels both here and during their migration to Scandanavia.
The new collars to look out for are: V7, V8, X3, X4, GPS birds are numbered 5, 6 and 7
One of the birds caught was a retrap with the original catch being made on 2012 and given the collar 7, which it managed to lose. It is fortunate that this bird had been given a black ring on its left leg which has allowed us to identify it since then. It has now been fitted with the new collar X4. (see pics below)
Of interest is the face pattern of this bird seems to have changed over the years which is an interesting feature worthy of note
The bean geese flock numbers have now reached 75 at Slamannan with 2 juveniles identified so far and one collar V6.
I attach a picture showing the movement of tags 39 and 20 from Saffle to Thisted their wintering area in north Denmark.
I am pleased to report that the advance party of birds have arrived. First seen on 30 September 2022 at Oakersdyke Farm near Slamannan. Thanks go to Alan Johnstone for his observation of 30 birds just near his steading.
My first sighting was on 02 October with a flock of 63 birds present at Luckenburn Farm. (see note below)
A visit today at 0920 - 03 October by my colleague Billy Thomson saw a reduced size group of 12 birds including one collared bird (V6) which is a female caught and ringed in 2013.
It has been noted today too that bean geese have moved south from Saffle in Sweden and Tag20 heading towards Denmark. (see pic below)
This probably means that we can expect more birds to arrive here if given suitable weather/wind conditions.
Note re stopping at Luckenburn Farm to view bean geese.
We receive complaints from time to time by the farmers here about cars stopping or parking at the entrance to the steading.
Please, please stay away from the farm track and park up elsewhere remembering to be safe on this busy country road.
Thanks to the efforts of Adjan de Jong who explored the bean goose breeding area this year we have two good shots of the nest site. (pictures attached courtesy of Adjan). Fascinating pictures and what a reward for Adjan's work.
This is a regular staging post for half of our flock before they cross the north sea to Slamannan.
This pair I believe have bred this year and we may get some information from Lake Brosjon as we have a contact in that area who monitors our geese when they use this staging post.
This is the pair of birds that have spent the last two winters in Pandrup, Denmark and we are presuming that they will stop over again. Time will tell.
Below 39,20 and three juvs.
Pictures courtesy of Dan Mangsbro
Update from Dan on 26 August. 123 adults (including collar V6, 39, 20) and 15 juveniles. Families with 4+3+3+2+2+1 juveniles each. 12%young (similar to last two years at Slamannan.
We have now got information thanks to Adjan in Sweden who has explored the breeding area to search for clues to what has occurred during the breeding season.
Sadly Tag18 was predated and its tag well and truly broken up.
It appears our pair (Tags 39 & 20) have bred successfully and are now roaming the forest areas where the bred.
Our other female Tag18 possibly bred too but her fate since then is questionable. Information from the tag has shown it has either fallen off the bird or the bird has been killed.
I will update you when/if further information becomes available.
We have been able to confirm today that one of our bean geese, tag 39 ( a female) appears to be sitting on a nest. This bird (pictured below) was one of five birds caught and ringed on 24th October 2019 at Luckenburn Farm.
For the last two years it and its mate Tag20 caught at the same time have wintered in Denmark.
In due course we may find out if its breeding attempt has been successful.
Our two flocks of Taiga Bean Geese are still on schedule for their migration to Dalarna County in Sweden where they breed.
The flock in Sweden are still in the area near Saffle with roosting taking place at Lake Brosjon
The other flock are still in Norway but have moved from Akershus to the Glomma River beside Braskereidfoss.
All of our GPS trackers are working which is great news, we await further movements north in due course.
Simon had been out birding on his patch as usual and has photographed some lovely birds for you to enjoy.
He has also managed to find our flock of bean geese and has photographs of them on his blog.
Our tracking website is not working at present and we are hoping it will come back online sooner rather than later.
Visit Simon's blog at (oslobirder.blogspot.com) for a treat in the birds that he has been seeing lately.
We have received further information from Dan at Lake Brosjon in Sweden and from Simon in Norway about our two flocks of Taiga Bean Geese.
At Lake Brosjon Dan has located a flock numbering 121 birds including one with a blue colour ring on its left leg. This bird was caught at Slamannan in 2012 and and was identified as a male. A UHF collar was fitted at that time with the number 16 on it. This collar has been lost in the intervening period but great to hear that the bird is still alive though the last two years it has not been seen at Slamannan. so probably has decided to winter in Denmark like tags 39 & 20. We are grateful to Dan for his observations.
In Norway Simon has been busy too and reports from the Glomma River where he has confirmed a flock size of 110 birds. This early arrival at Akershus is a sign of earlier migration and although not much snow on the ground food may be scarce. Time will tell, as they sometimes go back to Pandrup in Denmark if food is unavailable.
Simon has updated his blog and is well worth looking at since he has downloaded a series of shots of the bean geese on his patch. (oslobirder.blogspot.com) Our thanks too to Simon for his dedicated fieldwork.
This total of 231 birds is very close to our wintering flock size here at Slamannan although at one stage we did think we had that total present. This was never confirmed.
Fresh news in today indicates that the birds have left Pandrup and are now in their staging posts in Sweden (Lake Brosjon) and Norway (Glomma River NE of Oslo)
See attached map for details:
We have put together some more pictures of night activity at a roost pond. This behaviour has been unknown to us for nearly 30 years and is very interesting into how the birds bath and preen during the hours of darkness at their roost sites. Click on the following link to see it. View the bean geese at their night time roost.
I attach a screen grab of some of our birds on their staging grounds in Denmark. Fascinating to see how they can find each other after having flown across the North Sea the other day
Two of our GPS tag birds have now flown to Pandrup Denmark on or around 30 January.
In the last two days only one flock of 26/30 birds have been seen on the plateau. It looks like most of the flock have gone.
A full month earlier than 20 odd years ago.
Hopefully we will get some information from the birders in Denmark on how many birds have arrived at their staging post in northern Denmark..
We have been experimenting with some trail cameras this winter and this type of shot just shows what the bean geese get up to during the hours of darkness.
