INTRODUCTION: THE GOOSE–AGRICULTURE CONFLICT IN SCOTLAND, UK

Scotland hosts six species of geese for all or part of the year which comprise nine distinct breeding populations (Table 11.1). Six of these populations breed in arctic regions (Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard or Russia) and winter in Scotland, while the Scottish and naturalized populations of greylag geese (Anser anser) and Canada geese (Branta canadensis) are resident. Many populations are protected under the 1979 European Union Birds Directive (Directive 79/409/EEC) and the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act in the UK. Greenland white-fronted geese (Anser albifrons flavirostris) and both populations of barnacle geese (Branta leucopsis) are afforded the highest level of protection under Annex I of the EU Directive, while bean geese (Anser fabalis), greylag geese, Canada geese, pink-footed geese (Anser brachyrhynchus) and white-fronted geese are listed under Annex II/2 and may be legally hunted in the UK.

Most populations are increasing, largely as a result of hunting controls (Owen 1990). However, their ranges in Scotland remain very restricted in time and space (Fig. 11.1, Table 11.1). The entire Svalbard barnacle goose population, for example, winters in a 50 × 5 km coastal strip on the Solway Firth, in southwest Scotland (Fig. 11.1). Similarly, even highly mobile species like the pink-footed goose, with a winter range extending from northeast Scotland to southeast England, remains concentrated around a few important roost sites.