GPS could solve bean goose riddle
Rare taiga bean geese have been fitted with tracking devices by WWT scientists in an attempt to find out more about where they go.
GPS tags have been attached to four of the geese in Scotland to reveal the extent of their winter and summer locations, and plot their migration route in between.
The scientists particularly hope to discover how widely they spread over the protected Slammanan plateau in central Scotland, which hosts one of only two UK populations of the species.
Numbers wintering on the plateau have risen to 250 but globally the population has dropped from 100,000 to 65,000 in 15 years.
WWT researcher Carl Mitchell said: “Driving around the fields on the plateau we have no idea if we’re seeing the same birds on different days or different individuals spread more widely.
“Then in late February they leave Scotland on their spring migration, which is remarkably early, and we don’t know where they go.
“They’re unlikely to return to northern Scandinavia because large areas are still covered in snow so there are probably important spring staging sites that we don’t know about. We also don’t know where in northern Scandivia the geese breed”
Two groups of bean geese (Anser fabalis fabalis) overwinter in the UK, the second, smaller population migrates to the Yare Valley in Norfolk.
The tracking project, funded by Scottish Natural Heritage and backed by the Bean Goose Action Group, RSPB Scotland and Falck Renewables Wind, will provide two sets of data – on the species’ movements in Scotland during winter and, more importantly next October, their whereabouts over a full year.
Migration from southern Scandinavia is thought to take most of the birds across the North Sea and up the Firth of Forth to the Slamannan plateau. That stretch of water is a potential wind farm site which could add to the threats they face.
“Understanding their migration route in relation to proposed offshore wind turbine developments is essential to safeguard this important population,” Carl Mitchell said.
