The lives of geese and the challenges they face will come under the spotlight next week.
The Galloway Glens Scheme has been working with the National Trust for Scotland at Threave Estate to better understand the geese of Galloway. Individual birds have been tagged and tracked, revealing timings and destinations for these amazing creatures.
A look at their work and the lives and challenges of geese will be held at Balmaclellan Smiddy on January 11.
Geese expert Dr Larry Griffin, who will be speaking at the event, said: “The geese you see on the same field each day might not actually be the same birds.
“Some are English birds hiding in plain sight, perhaps having just been on a journey of a 100 miles or more, or some might have been at Gretna or the Nith the day before or they might be heading into the remote Galloway hills for a few nights with other birds switching into the flock in their place.
“Why this turnover of birds? One can only guess and head-scratch at this point as it is very early days in our understanding and data collection, but what is clear is that they are much bigger characters than expected and have far more diverse stories to tell than anticipated.”
The event can also be attended online. Free spaces can be booked by searching www.eventbrite.co.uk for Galloway Glens.
“Larry will be doing a whistle stop tour through the goose news of 2022 and then talking about one of our bridesmaid species, our only native breeding goose, the greylag. Much misunderstood and maligned by some, we have started tracking a few and the early results are very surprising.”
