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.
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
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.