Special area designated to protect Scotland’s Taiga bean geese

Taiga bean goose.

Slamannan Plateau declared SPA by EC Birds Directive
October 2008. Scotland's only population of Taiga bean geese has been given some legal protection with the designation of the Slamannan Plateau as a Special Protection Area under the EC Birds Directive.

The Slamannan Plateau consists of areas of peatland, wetland and rough and improved grassland, and lies between Falkirk Cumbernauld, around the headwaters of the River Avon. This important mosaic of habitat provides suitable feeding and roosting areas for the geese during their winter stay in Scotland.

Migrate from the Arctic
Bean geese were first officially recorded in the area in the 1980s, and their numbers and distribution have been monitored annually since the early 1990s. Over that time, the population has grown to over 200 birds. The bean geese arrive in the area in late September each year and leave in late February / early March. They spend the remainder of the year close to the Arctic Circle in the boreal bog-forests of Sweden, northern Norway, Finland and western Russia.

The site qualifies as an SPA by regularly supporting a nationally important number of the birds. Between 2000/2001 and 2004/05 the average peak number of geese at the site represented over 53 per cent of the total population in Great Britain, with the only other significant flock breeding in Norfolk. Scottish Natural Heritage notified the area as a Site of Special Scientific Interest in March 2006.

SPAs are designated under the EC Birds Directive for certain rare or threatened species. There are now 146 SPAs in Scotland covering an area of over 600,000ha for a wide range of bird species.

SPAs are intended to safeguard the habitats of the species for which they are designated and to protect the birds from significant disturbance. SPAs together with Special Areas of Conservation (which are designated under the Habitats Directive for certain habitats and non-bird species), form the Natura 2000 network of sites, which is a pan-EU network of sites for Nature Conservation for the 21st century and beyond.