History
Bean Geese were once the
most common of the grey geese to visit Scotland in winter. At the turn of the
century however their numbers started to decline sharply and they are now
uncommon.
Baxter & Rintoul in the Birds of Scotland stated that flocks of 200-400 were recorded in and around the Solway Firth until the mid 1940s. During the 1950s the birds frequented the Ken-Dee Marshes and Threave near Castle Douglas and numbers here gradually declined from about 200 birds to an average of 23 in the early 1980s.
At this time a small flock wintered at the Endrick Mouth, Loch Lomond and numbered 30 birds but by the 1960s the size of this flock never exceeded 17.
There were sporadic records in the 1970s of bean geese in central Scotland but a flock was confirmed in the early 1980s when 73 birds were seen at the Carron Valley Reservoir in February 1981. Subsequent to this a flock of similar size was found to be using the upper Avon Valley which is now referred to as the Slamannan Plateau. It has been suggested that this group of birds are the ones that were in Galloway as there were no overlapping dates but this has never been proved.
Today bean geese are occasionally recorded well away from Central Scotland but are often of single birds only.
Of the two species wintering in Scotland, only the nominate race Anser fabalis fabalis (Taiga Bean Goose) occurs regularly. There are occasional records of the A. f. rossicus (Tundra Bean Goose).
Most of the early field work was carried out by John Simpson who gathered much useful data on the wintering requirements of this flock. A full time study took place by Trevor Smith (RSPB) during the two winters 1993/94 and 1994/95 for the Bean Goose Working Group.
From 1994/95 to 2004/05, John Simpson was assisted by Angus Maciver in carrying out the fieldwork and producing an annual report into the population and distribution of the bean goose in Scotland. From 2004/05 onwards Angus Maciver has taken on the task of monitoring the Bean Goose flock.
This research is supported by Scottish Natural Heritage, Falkirk Council, North Lanarkshire Council and the Central Scotland Forest Trust. Other interested parties include the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, Scottish Agricultural College, The Forestry Commission and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).
A Natural Care scheme was launched by Scottish Natural Heritage on 13th February 2006. The aim of the scheme is to reward and support land managers for managing their land in such a way that will maintain sufficient and suitable habitat conditions for bean geese within the scheme area.
Several farmers/landowners have now signed up to this scheme which will in the fullness of time protect the wintering area for Bean Geese in the Slamannan area.
On March 9th 2006 SNH on behalf of Scottish Ministers commenced the consultation for the classification of the Slamannan Plateau proposed Special protection Area (pSPA). At the same time SNH notified the Slamannan Plateau Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
A new Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on the Slamannan plateau was approved by Scottish Natural Heritage's (SNH) Main Board today (21 August 2007). This will protect Scotland's only population of taiga bean geese (Anser fabalis fabalis).