Bean geese on the Slamannan Plateau, Central Scotland between 1993 and 1995

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Description

This project investigated the distribution and habitat requirements of the Central Scotland flock of bean geese that use the Slamannan Plateau area, in the winters of 1993/1994 and 1994/1995. This flock of 130-140 bean geese is the only one in Scotland, and it is one of only two substantial flocks in the UK. The bean goose is a red data bird in Britain because of its localised winter distribution. The study also investigated geographical, location and habitat preferences of the geese, the sources and effects of disturbance, and the relationship between goose use and sward characteristics. This project is a collaboration between RSPB, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Bean Geese Action Group.

Geographic Description

Slamannan Plateau, Central Scotland.

Data quality

There are no known data quality issues.

Methods

324 fields were identified and numbered using 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey maps. The fields include all the muirs and mires, grazing and arable fields, and three lochs. Grid references represent the centre of each field (field boundaries are available from the RSPB on request). During the winter, weekly counts were made of the number of bean geese per field across every field in the study area. Care was taken to vary the direction and starting point of the route, to avoid systematic bias in the time of day at which any given field was visited, or the direction from which it was approached. This ensured even and consistent checking of every field in the study area on a weekly basis, and formed the key element of recording bean goose distribution, enabling unbiased information to be gathered on the relative use, or lack of use, of fields by the bean geese.

Citation

Please acknowledge the RSPB, SNH and the Bean Geese Action Group in any use of the data.

Rights

CC-BY

Digitised records