A gander at Montrose’s geese

The coming of autumn heralds the arrival of thousands of pink-footed geese to Montrose Basin, creating a wonderful spectacle as they take flight and snake across the skies.

The Basin is a Scottish Wildlife Trust nature reserve – an enclosed estuary of the river South Esk covering 750 hectares – with a four-star visitor centre.

It is home to thousands of migratory birds, including pink-footed geese, Arctic terns, knots and sedge warblers.

On Sunday afternoon, Montrose Basin ranger Anna Cheshier will be leading a fullybooked talk on the pink-footed geese, while the visitor centre will offer the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the geese as they roost over the coming months.

Each year, after breeding in Iceland, they migrate to the warmer climes of the UK to spend the winter. Thousands of geese take flight, migrating in waves in search of food and shelter. It’s thought that the majority pass through Montrose to refuel while en route to wetlands further south.

Anna said the Basin is likely to be the first place they make landfall following a two-day journey from their harsh northern breeding ground.

“Angus is quite a popular place for them because it’s very agricultural so there’s a lot of feeding for them at this time of year,” Anna said.

The geese feed on crops and base themselves in stubble fields, picking up loose grains as well as the fresh grass that grows through the stubble. They also snap up any small potatoes that have slipped through the clutches of the harvester.

The enormous quantities of geese peak at around 90,000 in the Basin before dispersing as they move on to places like the Solway Firth, Hule Moss in the Borders, Morecambe Bay and the Norfolk Broads. Another popular site for the birds is RSPB Loch Leven.

Anna went on: “One of the spectacles is at dawn when they start to go out to feed for the day and you see massive movements of geese making waves across the Basin.”

The geese can also be quite noisy in their thousands – when taking off in the morning as well as returning to roost – making a distinctive “inking” sound.

In order to understand where to use valuable conservation resources and also discover which species are rare or declining, the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust supports the global waterbird monitoring effort by organising and undertaking surveys.

This means a census of pink-footed geese is done every year, which involves volunteers keeping an eagle eye on numbers at the Basin so this information can be shared with other wetland sites to create a Uk-wide count.

Anna said they have seen a rise in the population, partly due to climate change opening up more breeding territory in Greenland.

“They used to breed predominantly in Iceland but they are edging further and further into Greenland as more habits open up for them.

“We are also seeing changes in their migrating behaviour which is probably due to climate change as well.

“Greylag geese, for instance, aren’t moving anywhere near as far south as they used to so we are seeing less and less down here and more up in the Orkney area.”

Anna adds: “We will have 50,000 for the whole of the winter. Our peak numbers are mid-october then this drops off quite quickly as they head further south.

“We will still have a few thousand in March-time, then they will start their migration back round about April.”

For more information about the Basin, visit: scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk.

Pink-footed geese take off to feed from Montrose Basin.