News update on wintering taiga bean geese flock.

 Update on 9th October 2026

We have had an influx of birds coming into the area after arriving in the area of Ferryhills adjacent to the Forth Bridge. 

Pleased to report that an exploration of the plateau yesterday uncovered our flock of birds that had not been seen for a few days. 

Good observations were made using modern methods which has given us a flock total now of 219 birds. 

We are fortunate too, to have in our possession five new collars which have been given to us by SPEN the Scottish Power Company. We are grateful to them for this purchase. 

It is hoped to deploy them later in the month, which will give us a great advantage in where the birds are roosting and feeding on the plateau area. 

A  group of bean geese showing neck collars.

News update on Taiga Bean Geese arriving on the Slamannan Plateau near Falkirk

 An evening visit to the roost pool at Fannyside Muir gave us the opportunity to witness two flocks of geese coming to roost. Our initial count was approx.135 birds. They arrived in the dark flying in low over the site before touching down in the water. 

We carried out an image intensifier count later and were able to count 160 birds. Since then another 5 bean geese have been seen at Ferryhills on the Forth estuary.

This is a healthy start to the season and our team will be out and about trying to identify family groups, an important part of our work during the time they have with us. 

Spot on cue - we have had an arrival of 106 taiga bean geese on the Slamannan Plateau today.

 With a change of weather in the north sea over the past couple of days it has allowed our initial flock of birds to make a safe crossing. 

On a visit to the plateau with Billy Thomson this morning at 1015hrs a flock of 41 Canada Geese were seen and close by two flocks of bean geese. One flock of 41 birds and another of 65 birds including one bird with a collar, but we were unable to read it due to distance and bright sunny conditions. 

This is a similar date to 2025 autumn arrival. Fortunately our birds do not rely on {Air traffic control) to assist them with their long flights across the North Sea.  

A fresh update from Dan Mangsbo in Sweden who has been out again at Lake Brosjon.

 Dan has managed to visit Lake Brosjon again and has reported seeing a flock of 218 Bean Geese. 

This a good number and he thinks this is a maximum count for this time of the year. 

  Migration out of Norway in the autumn 1991

                                 

 The autumn season is upon us and we have news from Simon in Norway and Dan in Sweden about our Taiga Bean Geese autumn movement.
Simon has received information from a fellow birder that 50 taiga bean geese have been seen in a usual field system north of Oslo. This was on the 23rd of August.

Dan in Sweden has also been busy in the field and has seen a total of 160 taiga bean geese including 13 juveniles plus one collared bird V6. One family group of 6 goslings were seen.

The following map showing the movements of taiga been geese in 2021 between Scotland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden gives a great image for the flight details of this flock.

Further update from Dan Mangsbo in Sweden

 Fresh news update by Dan yesterday.

On a visit to Lake Brosjon he recorded a taiga bean goose flock of 220 birds. He also identified V6 and a partner and leg ring Y4 also with a partner. 

This is a very good total of birds and many thanks to Dan for his observations. 

News from Dan Mangsbo in Sweden about Taiga Bean Geese

 Fresh news in today from Dan who has been out looking for Taiga Bean Geese at Brosjon. He recorded 33 birds on 8 March and on the 14th the flock total had risen to 137. No collars or leg rings were seen. 

Thanks to Dan for his work in looking for our birds on their spring migration and reporting his findings to us.

News from Simon Rix in Norway about the arrival of part of our flock near Oslo

 We have had confirmation from Simon Rix that he has been out looking for our bean geese and has managed to take some super pictures and movie film of our birds on his patch.

It is all available to see on Simon's blog, see Oslobirder.blogspot.com

I can recommend viewing it if you follow or are interested in the Taiga Bean Geese that winter near Falkirk.

Yearly report for 2024/25 now available.

 We have changed the format of our annual reports and we now have available the 24/25 report available at 

https://sites.google.com/view/scotlands-bean-geese/home

This is a simplified report than previous but contains all the facts of the winter period which is of interest to birders that follow this species in the UK.

Angus

Fresh update on Spring movement of our flock

 We discovered within the last few days that bean geese had turned up at one of their roost pools on the plateau.

Billy Thomson and I went out today and low and behold found a flock of 88 birds including V8, one of our birds that has a collar on it. 

It would seem to us that the flock had left us when we thought, but ran into the bad weather in the north sea and diverted somewhere out at sea or on land, then decided to return to Slamannan and await another weather window. 

This behaviour had been noted some years ago when a family group of birds landed in Orkney,then the next day flew to Caithness, and then next day to Slamannan. They later awaited better weather before they eventually moved to Denmark.

New update on the Taiga Bean Goose flock at Slamannan Falkirk

 It has been rather a difficult winter this year in trying to monitor our flock. Local disturbance by one landowner, and poor weather made observations difficult. With no live tagged birds to monitor it was down to visual monitoring by our small team of observers. Field usage by our birds was not normal this winter and certainly different from recent winters.

We had hoped to catch some birds this winter but our plan to receive tags did not occur. Hopefully we will be in a better position next winter. 

We reckoned that our flock total this winter was 170 geese, not too dissimilar to last year. Counting juveniles within the flock was nigh impossible but one of our collared birds V8 had three juveniles in tow and another bird V6 also appeared to have three juveniles. 

Another interesting scenario this winter was the report of Taiga Bean Geese being seen in several locations around the UK. 

4 birds were reported from North Ronaldsay, 15 birds were reported at Deerness Orkney and other reports of a few birds in Northern Ireland. 

170 birds were reported on 13 January 2026, and several days later on the 17th this flock size had reduced to  87 birds. Numbers gradually reduced to 70 then, 13 on 20th Jan, 14 on 23rd Jan and finally 3 on 26th January.

No bean geese have been seen so far in early February, but it is likely we will continue to check for any stragglers left  behind. Weather conditions on the plateau had improved somewhat which made the birds move east but weather conditions on the North Sea would provide a  stern test of their fitness to migrate. Strong easterly/south easterly winds were prevalent at this time as well as lower temperatures in Denmark. 

Update from the Slamannan Plateau 3 December 2025

 It has been an interesting winter so far with our birds once they arrived at Slamannan not showing themselves to us in many of their usual feeding sites. 

This was thought to be due to disturbance by farming activities in these usual haunts. However for the past few weeks things have settled down and the birds having been showing themselves quite well which is allowing us to view them and identify individuals with neck collars. 

At present we have counted a flock total of about 175 birds which is a similar size to recent winters. 

Sadly our last working GPS collar (Tag5) (female) stopped working, a while after it appeared to successfully breed with its mate V8 (male). This bird (V8) was seen in Norway during its migration south with 3 juveniles in attendance and is now here at Slamannan along with collar V6 who has a partner and 2 juveniles. Our count of juveniles is continuing at present and we hope to have a better figure by the end of the year. 

It has been an interesting autumn (26th November) for Taiga Bean Geese being seen in other areas of Scotland and Ireland. A total of 45 birds have been reported from places like Orkney, Caithness and Ireland.  This is very unusual and not been apparent in winters past.

We have not been in a position to catch and ring any birds so far this winter, but we are hopeful that we will be in a position to achieve this by the end of the year. 

 

Fresh Update on Taiga Bean Goose flock at Slamannan

 After the initial arrival at the end of September we have had at least one new group arriving on the plateau. 

On 25th October we had a report of 10 Taiga Bean Geese being seen at Ferry Hills near North Queensferry by a reliable birder of 10 Taiga birds flying west up the Forth. 

With the weather turning colder we may see other groups of birds arrive here from Norway or Sweden.

Roosting continues to be noted at the Fannyside Lochs ponds and a good place to listen to their calls on arrival at this area. 

The birds that have arrived are showing a different pattern of field usage during the day than previous and this may well be down to farming activities in the area. 

News update on Taiga Bean Geese at Slamannan

 Originally we thought that the first group of birds arrived on 6 October but we have deduced that this was not correct.  

Further information was gleaned and seemingly the first group of c100 birds arrived on 23rd September. 

One of our observant farmers did say to us when we were out and about that he had been hearing geese prior to our own thinking. 

Trying to get to grips with arrivals this year has been difficult due to the weather we have been getting  which has been particularly misty early in the day for almost a week. 

Roosting has been occurring at the Fannyside Muir sites and little elsewhere. We have used a night drone to good effect, thanks to Roger, one of our latest recruits to the group. 

We are planning to try and catch some more birds this winter and at present we are waiting word on whether the purchase of collars has gone ahead as hoped.

Great news today, our first flock have been seen on the Slamannan Plateau today.

 A visit today confirmed that 92 birds have arrived at one of their usual haunts on the plateau. 

They were found to the north west of Slamannan village. 

Can I remind any birders that they are a sensitive flock of birds and are easily spooked, so no entering fields for a better view or photographs. The geese are very easily spooked and remember they will see you before you see them. It up helps us too if you do not upset the farmers whose land the birds use during the winter period. You will be seen and monitored !

Please stay on minor roads in the area and view the birds from there. A telescope can be very useful for a closer look. Enjoy seeing our now rarest flock of wintering geese in the UK.

Further news on Taiga Bean Geese in Northern Scotland

 There has been a report of  2 Taiga  Geese in the Outer Hebrides on Sat 27th September with the other 5 birds still on North Ronaldsay.

Also a report of 15 Taiga Geese at Deerness Orkney last week. 

There has been no sign of birds at Slamannan yet with checks done yesterday and today.

Sadly with no live tags of our birds in Norway and Sweden we have no live information to their position at present. 

Early record of Taiga Bean Geese on North Ronaldsay today 19th September 2025

 One of our regular Bean Geese team has located 4 Taiga Bean Geese at 1405 hrs today on Orkney.

They were seen between Holland House and East Loch Park. 

We had just checked today on our earliest arrival date for this species at Slamannan, and it was 20th September. 

Quite possible we will have birds on the plateau soon. 

Fresh Update from Dan in Sweden

 Dan has been out at Brosjon today and was able to count 190 Bean Geese. Collars V6 and X3 were seen and a bird with a blue ring on left leg. 

This was Dan's last count of the autumn at this locality and we are indebted to him for his skill and efforts in recording the movements of Taiga birds at this location. 

Great news today from Simon Rix in Norway, see below

Very good information from Simon in Norway. A flock of 129 bean geese have been located north of Oslo in a traditional stopping off area. For more information and pictures visit his blog. (oslobirder.blogspot.com) One photo below courtesy of Simon.

Fresh update yesterday 22nd August 2025 from Dan in Sweden

 We have received an update from Dan to say that he recorded 193 Bean Geese at Brosjon including 31 Juveniles. Including collars X3 and V6.

This a superb count and almost accounts for all the Bean Geese that we have been seeing in recent years. 

It will be very interesting to see how many turn up in Norway where Simon is awaiting for our birds to arrive in his patch.