Autumn movement of Tag39 in Sweden

 Winter weather has at last made tag 39 move south west to Thisted in Jutland. You will recall that this bird had attempted a crossing of the north sea some weeks ago but did an about turn and returned to Sweden. Interesting now to see if it stays in Denmark as it has done for the past two winter seasons. 

See map below.

Our flock at Slamannan has not increased in size for the past two weeks and the birds we have are split up during most days making total counts difficult. 

Roosting appears to be taking place in the eastern part of the plateau once again. 

Update on our wintering flock of Taiga Bean Geese

 The Slamannan flock of bean geese has now increased to c160 birds. It was good today to see that tag V6 who is now 10+ years old has returned once more for the winter. 

Good too as it confirms we have part of the Swedish group of birds that come south through Saffle in Sweden from Dalarna County in the north. 

We are however still short of our total of 218 birds of last winter. 

Updated map showing autumn movement 2023

 Attached is the map showing the movement of Tag5 (blue) track from Norway to Slamannan. 

The red track shows the movements of Tag39 who thought about coming to Slamannan but for some reason turned around and has gone back into Sweden. 

Our birds are back for a new winter at Slamannan

 We now have a flock of around 112 birds back on the Slamannan Plateau. 

They have been using two roost sites, one being the traditional site at the Fannyside Lochs area. Always a good spot to look for them, at dusk or a bit later or at dawn.  

Please remember to look for our birds from the road systems that are in and around the town of Slamannan. Please do not enter fields as farmers still have stock in them at this time of the year.

For information on viewing the flock please refer to the SOC App for Bean Geese. 

Autumn Migration (Update) 02 October 2023

 One of our birds (tag 05) has commenced its flight to Slamannan yesterday 01 October. It left the Akershus area north of Oslo in the early morning and arrived on the south west coast later in the day. It is presumed that strong westerly winds then made it change direction and it has flown north towards Stavanger.  (see Map)

It may mean that other birds have moved across the north sea so visits to Slamannan will be the order of the day. 

Update on autumn migration by Simon in Oslo

 Simon was out checking up on the bean goose flock on 18 September and found the flock of 101 had not increased and that V8, Tag27 and Tag05 were still present. 

You can visit his blog to view some pictures of the birds. I attach one courtesy of Simon for you to  view. He did comment that wintry weather was not far away and today's forecast from Norway mentions snow. That may mean that our birds may well move south towards us in central Scotland. 

New pictures on Simon's website of the Scottish Taiga Bean Geese and comments on what he found.

 I attach one picture (courtesy of Simon) from his recent visit to see our flock. 

Some other nice shots too of raptors in the area.

Tag 05 and V8

Update on Autumn migration data

 Tag39 has now moved south to Saffle in Sweden. See picture below. (red star)

More news from Simon in Oslo confirms that he has seen 101 Bean Geese on 30th August. He will update pictures on his blog soon. 

He has confirmed visual on collars V8, 27 and 05 and also 9 juveniles within the flock. 4 broods (4x2, 1x1)

Autumn Migration underway 17 August 2023

 A check today on tag5 shows that this bird has moved from the breeding area to near Akershus, a traditional area for one part of our bean goose flock. 

Tag39 is still showing as being in the breeding area. 

Attached map is showing these movements.

Update on Spring Migration 2023

 Our flock of birds in Norway have moved north on the Glomma River system. See tracks of the green tracking. 

The Swedish flock are showing moving north to the breeding grounds with Tags 39 and 20 showing up well to the north. 

The weather this spring has caused a lot of problems with our birds migration so we hope that they manage to breed successfully eventually.

See map below. 

Update on spring Migration, courtesy of Simon Rix in Oslo

 Simon has been out finding our bean goose flock after it had flown south in the last week or so due to bad weather. 

They have now returned north to their usual area in Akershus. I suggest you visit Simon's blog to see our birds including some tagged birds. Thanks again are due to Simon for his excellent fieldwork and photographs

oslobirder.blogspot.com

Spring Migration Update 16 March 2023

 Cold weather in Norway and Sweden has affected our two flocks of birds. Map today shows the Norwegian flock have gone back south and flying around possibly looking for somewhere to feed. 

The flock in Sweden near Saffle have also being moving about probably for a similar reason. Map below shows the extent of movement involved by both flocks.

UIpdate from Simon Rix in Oslo

 As expected Simon has been out and found a lovely taiga bean goose flock of 87 birds. His photos are outstanding and shows off the birds plumage well. Quite a few of our birds with collars on view and nice to see them in this light and looking in good condition after their migration from Slamannan via Denmark to Norway, One sample below with courtesy from Simon but visit his blog (oslobirder.blogspot.com) for the complete set. You will not be disappointed. 

Bean Geese arrival at Akershus Norway

 How dependable, Simon Rix has been out looking for our birds after their arrival in his area near Oslo.

Two pictures courtesy of Simon with more to follow.

His blog just now has some super shots of local birds in his area at present and some good pics of Moose.

                                                                  Bean Geese flock

                                                    Glomma River Akershus - roost area

Spring Migration Update 22 February 2023

 Just logged on to our tracking site for the Taiga Bean Geese and thought it is a must share picture for birders who log on to see what is happening. 

It is great to be able to see such detail in the route that the latest pair have taken after landing in Norway, locate the Glomma River and go north to Akershus their favourite place to stage whether going north or coming south in the autumn. I have alerted Simon Rix in Oslo who will no doubt try and get out to see our birds and report back with numbers, collars seen and flock counts. I believe they still have wintry weather in the area so hopefully there is food available in nearby fields. 

Spring Migration - Update 21 February 2023

 In recent days two of our birds (39 & 20) who have wintered in Denmark for the past two years have now moved north to Saffle in Sweden.

Today it is noted that another two birds ringed on 5 November 2022 (Tags 5 & 6) have also left Pandrup in Denmark and have landed in Norway.

With new informative tags being used we have gained further knowledge about how our birds migrate (Speed of flight and height flown over land and sea) All fascinating information. See attached map for flight data.

Update from the Slamannan Plateau

 Another winter season has now ended, much earlier than we expected. Following the migration of Tag6 and others who would have been on the same migration, numbers of bean geese declined sharply. With around 300 Pinkfeet still in the area it was no easy task to try and pin down the Bean Geese that may still be present. 

57 Bean Geese were seen on the 22nd January but the following day only approximately 40 could be counted. 

Thereafter, I and fellow colleagues have not seen any.

Our birds are now safely in Denmark near Pandrup where they will stage before splitting up into their two flocks for the next move, either into Norway or Sweden. 

Migration of Tag6 to Pandrup Denmark

 Our recently fitted neck collars are giving us so much more information than previous ones. I attach the flight from Slamannan to Pandrup Denmark of this bird which shows the exact flight details with a 5 min break between signals. 

The flight was completed in 7 Hrs at a pace of 80-110KPH, which is a phenomenal speed, but with a tail wind probably easier than we think. 

 

Update from Slamannan

 It was noted this morning that one of our newly tagged birds left Scotland this morning and at 0800 was off the east coast near Dunbar heading for Denmark. See screen grab shot from tracking data. It is more than likely that a flock of our birds have gone too. By lunchtime today only 43 bean geese had been seen just to the north of Slamannan. We hope to get an update from birds in the air later when I will be able to update you on Migration information. 

I also promised a few shots taken at one of the main roosting ponds this winter. Attached below.

Night roost pics

 

Update from Slamannan Plateau 11 Jan 2023

 May I wish all blog watchers a happy new year wherever you are. 

It has been a difficult winter this year in trying to count the bean geese flock in part due to inclement weather, light and a large flock of Pinkfeet that have been feeding with and alongside the beans. 

If the light is not good Pinkfeet and the birds distant, it can be quite easy to confuse the two species. 

However we reckon we have about 200 taiga bean geese present since October and still with us, time though is running out as we expect some birds to be gone by early February. 

We have managed to use a trail camera this winter to get night shots of the geese in and around one of their roosting pools. 

This has been very interesting exercise and I hope to be able to send you some stills or videos before too long.