geese-solve-problem

Hungry geese have solved a climate change headache for Scotland’s top turf growers.

With their grass still growing during the winter months, Stewartsturf, who have a turf farm on the banks of Loch Leven, can’t risk damaging their fields with heavy mowing machinery.

But thousands of geese are doing the job for them! “Grass growth is still going on in winter, but there’s no way we can touch it, especially as we’ve had so much rain lately,” says Duncan Forbes, co-owner of Stewartsturf.

The solution? Pink-Footed geese from Iceland and Greenland, and native Greylags ,that have swooped in to feast on their land at Kinnesswood Farm.

The farm is just across the loch from the RSPB Vane Farm nature reserve, which welcomes up to 22,000 Pink-Footed geese every year, as well as anything between 500 and 1000 of their Greylag cousins. Kinnesswood Farm, with its acres of lush-green grass, proves a popular feeding area for the birds.

Stewarts started life in 1894 and has supplied everyone from greenkeepers and groundsmen at Gleneagles and Murrayfield, to gardeners all over the UK.

“The geese usually arrive at dawn, and it’s quite incredible to watch,” says Duncan. “It can be quite misty on the banks of the loch and they just drop out of the sky. The sheer volume of them is amazing and the noise is incredible.

“They munch away on the grass but they seldom cause damage, although it would be helpful if they’d learn to walk up and down in straight lines.”

“Geese are grazing animals, like flying sheep really,” says Dave Jones, senior warden at the RSPB’s Vane Farm. “Their main food is grass, and if it’s growing, it’s more nutritious for them. Sometimes they go on to winter cereals and eat other things like fragments of potatoes or neeps.”

The Pink-Footed geese began to arrive in September last year, and will remain at Loch Leven until spring. Duncan says the geese act as a marker of seasonal change and the ideal spot to catch a glimpse of the geese is from the new 13.5km Loch Leven Heritage Trail.

The circuit of walkways and cycling paths was launched in May last year and when complete, will eventually wind its way right around the loch.

The first part of the trail, which opened last May, runs from Kinross to Pow Burn and phase two, which was launched in November last year, stretches from the RSPB Vane Farm reserve to the northern edge of Levenmouth Wood. Work on the third and final phase will start in the spring.

The trail wouldn’t have been possible without the support of local landowners, including Stewartsturf, who have granted access over their land.

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