Conservation
We work with nature to provide a better environment
Our grass seed mixes support nature throughout the United Kingdom for example. We are very proud that the Bean Geese in the Slammannan Plateau prefer our grass seed mixes.
Slamannan Plateau is a Special Protection Area under the EC Birds Directive, providing additional safeguards for Scotland's only population of Taiga bean geese.
The Slamannan Plateau lies between Falkirk and Cumbernauld, around the headwaters of the River Avon, and consists of areas of peatland, wetland and rough and improved grassland. This important mosaic of habitat provides suitable feeding and roosting areas for the geese during their winter residency in Scotland.
Bean geese were first identified in the area during 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 by regularly supporting a nationally important number of the birds. Between winters 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.