Bean Geese Update 21 September 2016

I have had a drive around the Slamannan Plateau this week and all of the fields are looking in good condition for the return of our flock from Norway.

I checked the bean goose website this afternoon and see that our birds with live collars are still NE of Oslo next to the Glomma River where they go in the autumn after visiting Denmark.

Their is high pressure over Scandanavia at present which might encourage them to move but will depend on wind directions.

News update on bean geese in Norway courtesy of Simon Rix

Simon was out on 12 September to try and age the bean goose flock for juveniles with adults.
This task is not an easy one as we well know from our experiences at Slamannan. It would seem that only 4 juveniles could be seen in a flock of 129 birds.

Almost similar numbers to what we found at Slamannan last autumn.

Simon has nice pictures and some movies of the flock which are well worth looking at.

(oslobirder.blogspot.co.uk)

Update on swan and goose reports now available from WWT

For Bean Goose enthusiasts the link below will give you the annual report from WWT  on Bean Geese


http://monitoring.wwt.org.uk/our-work/goose-swan-monitoring-programme/species-accounts/bean-goose/


With thanks to Carl Mitchell and the team at Slimbridge.

Update on our bean geese in Norway

Simon Rix the Oslo birder has been busy again out looking at the bean geese that are staging near Oslo.

The flock count has gone up to 90 birds but Simon is having a problem trying to do some age counts because the birds are so wary.

He has again put some nice pics on his website (oslobirder.blogspot.co.uk) which are well worth looking at.

Further news and Pictures from Norway

Simon in Norway has been busy looking for bean geese near his home in Oslo. The results of his endeavours can be seen on his blog (oslobirder.blogspot.co.uk) We can see Tag10 amongst a flock of 50 birds.

His pictures as usual are first class in showing the habitat the birds are using and then managing to capture them in flight, with inserts of collared birds.

It is interesting too to try and understand their early arrival in this location. Do they react to early indications of an early drop in temperatures or have they moulted early and decided to move south.

News Update on Tag10 in Norway

I have noted today via the bean goose website (scotlandsbeangeese.wikispaces.com) that Tag10 has moved south towards the Glomma river NE of Oslo where the birds visit on their spring migration.

Tag 10 bill pattern

Tag 29 has now also downloaded a new position which is north of where Tag10 is at present

News from Sweden 5 August 2016

Hi all

Tags 10, 27, 29 and 30 continue to work after the breeding season. The autumn 2016 migration diary is as follows.

5 August Tags, 10,27,29 and 30 finish their annual moult and move to forest wetland near Storbo (close to the Norwegian border).

This is great news and means that we may well have 'live' information again this coming winter on the Slamannan Plateau

There is a new autumn migration 2016 link on the bean goose website

(http://scotlandsbeangeese.wikispaces.com/home