A new flock of 30 Barnacle Geese appeared at the Mere a few days ago, several of them with very visible neck collars for ease of id. 11 of them had neck collars and at least 4 had yellow leg rings.
When I found them I spent some time taking lots of photos so I could capture the tags and hopefully find out where they had come from.
I pictured some far flung northern land, but the truth was somewhat more prosaic.
The Waterbird Colour-marking Group are the people who collared and ringed these birds, and here's an extract from their web page about their Barnacle Goose study:
Three populations of Barnacle geese occur in the UK, two of which are entirely migratory, one originating from Svalbard and the other from Greenland. The third population, the smallest is the naturalised population resident in the UK throughout the year, predominately in England with smaller numbers also occurring in Wales and Scotland. This population is regularly monitored through the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS), and the long-term trend clearly shows a rapid increase in numbers since the 1980s, in particular since the mid-2000s. The population’s size is currently estimated to be 4,400 individuals, which is over 60% higher than the previous estimate of 2,700 when last assessed in 2011.
So our birds are part of this naturalised population and a census of these birds is planned for later this month. If this flock hangs around until then they will be reported accordingly.
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| The Barnacle Geese |
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| Neck collars and leg rings |
I added id's to the photos for ease of reference when I was collating them, and here's the completed list:
Neck collar numbers:
A88 A98 A99
B71 B73 B74 B77 B81 B93 B94
C04
Leg ring number (black on yellow) I think was 873.
All these birds were ringed/collared in Scorton, North Yorkshire in July last year. Their history shows they've around a bit since then but never left our shores.
They were still there this morning but I couldn't get any better views of their legs or leg rings.
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