Bean geese on the Slamannan Plateau, Central Scotland between 1993 and 1995

Quality Control

Method steps

1. 324 fields were identified and numbered using 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey maps. The fields include all the muirs and mires, grazing and arable fields, and three lochs. Grid references represent the centre of each field (field boundaries are available from the RSPB on request). During the winter, weekly counts were made of the number of bean geese per field across every field in the study area. Care was taken to vary the direction and starting point of the route, to avoid systematic bias in the time of day at which any given field was visited, or the direction from which it was approached. This ensured even and consistent checking of every field in the study area on a weekly basis, and formed the key element of recording bean goose distribution, enabling unbiased information to be gathered on the relative use, or lack of use, of fields by the bean geese.