Neck Collared Pink footed Geese Click to return to Home Page

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Pinkfeet at Fleetwood 2001 - P.Ellis                                                                    

A lot of our wintering geese have been fitted with identifying neck collars. These are blue-grey with a code of 2 or 3 black characters and can be read with a telescope. 

Some birds have been wearing their collars for several years and have been recorded many times at various locations in the UK and Iceland during that time. 

For example IJJ was on Fleetwood Fields on Sunday 6-1-02 and on the 5th 9 were read at Green Dicks Lane , Preesall Over Wyre ( UC  CNF  FCV  FNU  IDV ITU IUX paired with IYC and LDN)

LCI below, was photographed in December by Chris Batty at Eagland Hill.

This is LCI's story so far:

The study is being co- ordinated by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust who will welcome all records of collars which have been read. The message below from Richard Hearn gives full details. 

Records can be sent directly to Richard Hearn or via the Fylde Bird Club See below. A reply will be provided giving details of previous sightings of the individual birds concerned. 

Click here to send your sightings via Fylde Bird Club                          

 Richard.Hearn@wwt.org.uk on 15/10/2001 15:05:27
 Please respond to Richard.Hearn@wwt.org.uk@INTERNET@wtgw

                                                      15 October 2001

 Dear Observer,

 As a previous contributor to WWT of sightings of colour- marked grey geese, I am writing to you now to firstly update you on developments with these projects and, secondly, to remind you that sightings of these marked birds are still urgently sought this winter.
 Most areas should already have wintering geese by now and many of you have started to send in sightings, for which I am very grateful. As in 2000/01, I will only be able to send out a limited number of regular reports of observed birds.
 Therefore, it would be a great help to me if you would accept a single report on the marked birds you have
 observed at the end of the winter. Please let me know if you would be happy with this arrangement when you next send
 in sightings of marked birds. However, I know some of you pass details onto landowners, for example, and
 consequently need reports of the birds you have observed more regularly. If this is the case, please let me know and I
 will ensure that you receive them when they are needed.

 Sightings can be sent in either by letter or, if you have access to the internet, by email. Electronic submissions are
 preferred, as they can save considerable inputting time. If you are able to send sightings in a spreadsheet or text file, I
 can send you the format of the WWT database, so that your data can be imported directly. However, the important thing
 to remember is that all sightings are required and gratefully received, no matter what format they come in.

 Catches

 For the first time since 1996, no marking of Pinkfeet or Greylags took place in Iceland this summer. However, plans
 to find funding for continued ringing are being developed and it is hoped that this will be able to take place from 2002.
 Catches of Greylag at Loch Eye have also been discontinued from this autumn. However, an excellent catch
 of 43 Pinkfeet was made in Aberdeenshire in November 2000 by Raymond Duncan, Rab Rae and other members of
 Grampian Ringing Group. It is hoped to expand the extent of winter catching in other areas to compensate for the loss of
 Loch Eye and the temporary lack of ringing in Iceland.
 In addition, a catch of 16 European White-fronted Geese was made at Slimbridge in February 2001. These birds are
 marked with black neck collars and matching black leg rings, engraved with a three character code. If you see any of
 these birds, please report whether a plastic leg ring was also present, although the code may be obtained via the
 collar. They form part of the project co-ordinated by Helmut Kruckenberg and since 1998/99, Helmut and his team have
 now marked more than 2,000 whitefronts in the Netherlands and Germany. More details on this project can be found at
 <http://www.anser.de.

 Observations

 Almost 10,000 observations of Pinkfeet and Greylag were reported in the UK last winter. This is due to the tremendous
 efforts of all observers concerned and the information gathered will help considerably in our understanding of the
 population dynamics of these two species, which is vital for their effective conservation management. This winter,
 please continue to send sightings of Pinkfeet to myself and Greylags to Bob Swann (address below). All other wildfowl
 can be sent to Colour Marked Wildfowl at WWT Slimbridge. Bob Swann, 14 St Vincent Road, Tain, Inverness IV19 1JR
 <bob.swann@freeuk.com

 Grey Goose Workshop

 A workshop to discuss current and future research and monitoring of Icelandic-breeding grey geese was held
 recently at Hvanneyri in Iceland. One of the key gaps in our understanding of population dynamics that was identified
 was the age of first breeding. To provide a better understanding of this, I would be very grateful if observers
 could make extra effort to record the social status of each marked bird they observe. This simply entails noting
 whether the bird appears paired or unpaired and whether it has any young and, if so, how many. It is possible to identify
 families of geese throughout the winter as they remain in close contact within the flock. They typically carry out
 different behaviours simultaneously and by watching a bird for a few minutes it is usually possible to gauge whether it
 has any relationship with any of it?s flock neighbours. However, at times birds from the same family may be
 separated by several metres, so always try to watch a marked bird for a while to be certain of it?s status.
 Young geese can be identified by their combination of small, rounded wing coverts, spotted breast and dark nail to the
 bill. For those of you that own a copy of the new Collins Bird Guide, there are some excellent drawings showing how to
 identify young grey geese.

 Another recommendation arising from this workshop was that survival estimates could be improved by focusing
 resighting effort into specific periods of the annual cycle. For survival estimation, only sightings from selected winter
 periods are used and these are October and March for Pink- footed Geese and November and March for Greylags.
 However, it remains important to continue to resight marked birds outside of these periods for other purposes.

 Finally, may I thank you all in anticipation for your contribution to these important monitoring programmes
 during the coming winter. As always, if you would like any further information or have any other questions about this
 work, please do not hesitate to contact me.

 With best wishes.

Richard Hearn

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