Roosting and feeding

Pink-footed Geese in Fife, 1991/92 to 2020/21

A.W. BROWN & L.M. BROWN

The roosting and feeding sites of Pink-footed Geese in Fife were monitored over 30 years from winters 1991/92 to 2020/21. In addition to data gathered for national coordinated counts in October and November, four key roost sites were monitored on a regular basis and changes in their use were identified and a further 14 sites recorded roosting birds. Whilst Cameron Reservoir declined in use, there was a corresponding increase in roosting birds at the Eden Estuary and The Wilderness, Ladybank, with the latter becoming the principal roost site by the end of the study period. Overall, despite the increase in the national population, the percentage of birds occurring in Fife on national counts remained fairly stable at 3.1%. Feeding flocks were recorded throughout the study area with a concentration in east Fife but distribution changed as the Cameron Reservoir roost declined and the Eden Estuary and The Wilderness increased in importance with birds feeding closer to these two roosts. The changes in the pattern of roosting and feeding identified highlighted the importance of on-going monitoring, the need to review site protection designations on a regular basis and the potential to include feeding areas within the designation and management processes.

Introduction

In Fife two sites have statutory designations (SSSI, SPA and Ramsar) relating to Pink-footed Geese Anser brachyrhynchus as one of their key features: Cameron Reservoir and the Firth of Tay and Eden Estuary (including Tentsmuir and Abertay Sands). This paper on the status, numbers and distribution of Pink-footed Geese in Fife presents the results of frequent monitoring of goose roosts at these and other sites together with feeding distribution during the winters 1991/92 to 2020/21 and indicates the changes that have occurred during that period. Data have also been extracted where relevant from casual observations in annual Fife Bird Reports (1988–2017), the results of the annual International Goose Census coordinated by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) (1961–2020), unpublished local goose reports (Brown 1994/95 to 2001/02, Central Scotland Goose Group Newsletters 1988 to 1997), bird atlas data (Elkins et al. 2003, 2016) and summary data presented in the Waterbird Review Series (Mitchell & Hearn 2004). Such monitoring is critical to understanding how sites are used throughout a winter and how this varies annually and can inform both the site management and designation process.

Data on the presence of Pink-footed Geese in Britain up to the early 20th century are scarce owing to the apparent confusion with the Bean Goose Anser fabilis (Mitchell & Hearn, 2004). Rintoul and Baxter (1935) made no reference to the species in Fife within the Forth Faunal area (which included south and west Fife) and Berry (1939) stated that the species was first recorded in the Tay Faunal area (which included north and east Fife) about 1870, wintered in very large flocks at the mouth of the Tay by 1900. Baxter & Rintoul (1953) were able to state that by the 1950s “big flocks every winter, and in some years in incredible numbers, on the sand-banks of the Tay and in the fields about the East Neuk of Fife” and Atkinson-Willes (1963) referred to large numbers roosting in the inner Firth, including at Mugdrum Island near Newburgh. By the early 1980s it was regarded as a common winter visitor which apparently reached maximum numbers in the 1960s (Smout 1986). From November 1960 a national census of Pink-footed Geese has taken place

43:1 (2023)

Scottish Birds: 3–15