Wildlife enthusiast Alan Tissiman on Moray's annual invasion of pink-footed geese
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THOUSANDS of visitors are descending on Findhorn for their traditional winter stay.
Around 10,000 pink-footed geese return to the bay year on year, flying in the V-formation common to migrating birds and announcing their arrival with their characteristic honks.
Local wildlife enthusiast and columnist, Alan Tissiman, loves watching them.
He said: “The sight and sound of their formations – ‘skeins’ – is one of the great wildlife spectacles of the British Isles. Watching these spectacular movements of birds – at dawn or dusk – at Findhorn Bay can be a remarkable and life-enhancing experience.
“Seeing them flighting is really something. The birds communication is nice to hear, and you can seem them manoeuvring as they come in to land. They have a distinctive whiffling motion as they spin down to the ground and tend to travel in family parties.”
Pink-footed geese spend the summer in their breeding grounds further north, returning to overwinter in Scotland. Depending on the weather, the flight time down from Iceland is around 22 hours. They spend the dark nights resting on or near estuaries and their winter days feeding on surrounding fields.
Mr Tissiman said: “Our population breeds in the tundra environment of Iceland and a coastal strip of east Greenland. Strange to think that our birds spend much of their life with neighbours such as walruses and snowy owls!
“Originally the Scottish birds would have fed on saltmarsh, but it is believed that around 1900, they started feeding on stubble fields, taking advantage of split grain and spoilt root crops. They will then go on to graze sprouting wheat and grass.”
In the UK, 372,000 pink-footed geese spend the winter on wetland and farmland habitats – 90 per cent of the world’s population.
Mr Tissiman said: “Although large numbers of geese can cause conflict with farming interests there are ways of managing geese so that they feed in areas which cause less damage. Disturbing them can do more harm than good if it disperses them to sites which are more sensitive.
“Given the remarkable life history of these geese – the migrations, for instance – and the sheer visual and aural experience of large numbers, and their social behaviour – we could do more with them in terms of public engagement, including with our local schools.
“However, that would require a bit more investment in interpretation and access arrangements which avoid disturbance.”
The flocks offer potential local revenue from wildlife tourism.
Mr Tissiman added: “You need something like the infrastructure you find in well-established nature reserves to make it accessible to the more general visitor.
“It’s sad that so few local people have experienced it.
“There is nothing like a magnificent sunset or breaking dawn, with the calls of the birds, and the black silhouettes.”
The latest sightings and information is available atcwww.birdsinmorayandnairn.org/
