Earlier this year one of the wildlife spectacles in the Highlands were the large flocks of geese and their often large v shaped skeins were a feature even over the City. Many of these were greylag geese that gathered in fields to feed and rest before heading north. They fly to their low lying summer breeding grounds in Iceland and they often fly there in just one flight. Some arrived back in Iceland in late March but the main flocks arrived back in the second and third week of April. The Iceland breeding population is, unfortunately, in decline and one reason is that around 35,000 are shot there every year. What is intriguing about greylag geese is that an increasing number of them are either resident here or stay over and breed. The origin of the resident birds is still open to debate.
There are records of them breeding on Loch Shin in Sutherland in 1651 and other areas. Now the main resident and native population is supposedly confined to the Western Isles, the west coast and Caithness. This means that the broods of goslings I saw every year on a large loch near Ullapool many years ago would have been native. So where have the birds come from in the rest of the Highlands. Some may have escaped from collections but there is another source that is intriguing. Geese are famed for pairing up for life and the greylag goose is no exception. If one bird of a pair has a damaged wing for such reasons as shooting or hitting overhead cables it cannot fly north in the spring. If this happens then its mate may well stay on amazingly resisting the powerful urge to migrate.
This happened a few year ago with a pair I saw on Loch Flemington east of Inverness. It seemed as though one of the birds hit an overhead cable and could not fly. It had no choice but to stay and its mate chose to do the same. They bred and reared a family of goslings. I did not see them after that but always wondered whether the offspring also chose to stay when the wintering birds from Iceland came and then went back the next spring. Such an accident is presumably the source of a pair of greylags that bred on Loch Duntelchaig south of Inverness a few years ago This has gradually built up to several pairs that are now resident and breed successfully each year. Last week when I was driving to Loch Ruthven there was a pair of greylags geese on the side of the road just before I reached the loch. The photograph was take from the car and shows two adults with their characteristic flesh pink legs and feet and the large orange beak with a white tip.
Many years ago geese could not only be shot in the UK but they could also be sold and very large numbers indeed were shot for the commercial market. The numbers of many geese, including greylags, fell and then legislation was introduced to stop the sale of geese. Now greylag geese can be shot during the open season 1st Sept to 31st Jan but to 20th Feb in areas below high water mark Now as with other geese the greylag numbers have risen and counts in the latest Highland Bird Report for 2008 reveal this trend. The number of pairs on the RSPB Reserve at Insh Marshes has increased from 21 pairs in 2005 to 34 in 2008. More broader surveys have shown a marked increase in summer birds since the last major count in 1997.