Goose migration

[Edward]

On Saturday I saw two very big flocks of Pale-bellied Brent Geese (Branta bernicla hrota) coming in off the sea in south-western Iceland, arriving after a mammoth crossing of the Greenland icecap and the Denmark Strait from their breeding islands in northern Canada. They're the first ones I've seen this autumn, and a clear sign that the summer is well and truly over. They'll stay here for a month or so, refuelling before heading to the UK and Ireland for the winter.

Anyone noticed any movements of geese yet?

E

[camelbirder]

Unfortunately in Cornwall the only goose movements we see is Canada Geese moving between the moorland lakes and their feeding area.
Occasionally small numbers of Brent Geese do visit.

Could you send some of yours this way :-O

[Bluetail]

Had 4 Brents on 12 September at Dawlish Warren.

[Jos Stratford]

In a few days, the first waves of geese should be heading over here too, westward bound - Beans and White-fronts.

[jurek]

Last weekend, lots of Greylag and first two White-fronted near Berlin.

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Pink-feet are coming into northeast Scotland now - saw about 60 yesterday. I saw a Pale-bellied Brent in Fife a couple of weeks ago but haven't seen any since.

[gw4aurora]

I always look ahead to the Pale-bellied Brent arriving on the Dee estuary.
There were good numbers here last time.

It is great to see them fly from Hilbre island to Point of Ayr on high tide.

[John Marshall]

Hi Edward.

+My contacts in the goose world have informed me today that several Pinkfooted geese have arrived and are arriving daily in Scotland, N.W.England (Martin mere) and on the Wash in Norfolk and Lincolnshire. Several small skeins have been seen flighting over the past week in North Norfolk. Dark bellied brent geese are also showing in small numbers on the Lincolnshire marshes. The Icelandic pinkfeet will soon be here in their thousands. I cannot wait to hear their music!!!

Regards

[jpoyner]

12 Pink-Feet through Speyside today....the first this "winter"........there was a small flock of Barnacle Geese on the Ythan estuary last Wednesday too.

JP

[derekjake]

On Saturday I saw two very big flocks of Pale-bellied Brent Geese (Branta bernicla hrota) coming in off the sea in south-western Iceland, arriving after a mammoth crossing of the Greenland icecap and the Denmark Strait from their breeding islands in northern Canada. They're the first ones I've seen this autumn, and a clear sign that the summer is well and truly over. They'll stay here for a month or so, refuelling before heading to the UK and Ireland for the winter.

Anyone noticed any movements of geese yet?

E
hi edward , great to hear about the pale bellied brent , i have just got back from wells next the sea i went up to see the first pinks which started coming coming in on tuesday 14 th september , several skiens seen at the fresh marshes on holkam , like wild goose there wild call never fails to stir me , regards derek jake :clap: :clap:

[derekjake]

Hi Edward.

+My contacts in the goose world have informed me today that several Pinkfooted geese have arrived and are arriving daily in Scotland, N.W.England (Martin mere) and on the Wash in Norfolk and Lincolnshire. Several small skeins have been seen flighting over the past week in North Norfolk. Dark bellied brent geese are also showing in small numbers on the Lincolnshire marshes. The Icelandic pinkfeet will soon be here in their thousands. I cannot wait to hear their music!!!

Regards
its been a long summer but at last they are back have been up to holkham to listen to there wild music to day looks like goose fever is back with a vengance wild goose

[Henry B]

12 Pink-Feet through Speyside today....the first this "winter"........there was a small flock of Barnacle Geese on the Ythan estuary last Wednesday too.

JP
And an other 25 flew over Lhanbryde to-wards Speybay at 5 pm to-day.

[Birdspotter]

Around 150 Pink feet at Aberlady, Lothian yesterday also present where 22 Barnacles

[Andrew Whitehouse]

12 Pink-Feet through Speyside today....the first this "winter"........there was a small flock of Barnacle Geese on the Ythan estuary last Wednesday too.

JP

I've seen a flock of 5 Barnacles the last two weeks at the Ythan (in with Greylags and Canadas). It was suggested to me that these were feral birds that hang around all the time. I guess it's now the right time for migrants to be arriving too though.

[Edward]

Hi
many thanks for the replies. Saw lots of skeins of Greylags at the weekend but none appeared to be leaving yet, just moving between grazing sites. The only Pink-feet and Barnacles I saw this weekend were ones hanging up dead on washing lines, the hunting season is in full swing!
Lots of Whooper Swans across southern Iceland, also massing for departure.

E

[Henry B]

Seen to-day at Lossiemouth opposite caravan park,40 Brent geese.

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Lots of Whooper Swans across southern Iceland, also massing for departure.


I had a lovely flock of 13 Whoopers over my flat in Aberdeen this morning (whilst having breakfast!).

[Xabi]

Nothing heard in Spain yet... but waiting eagerly!

[samuel walker]

On Saturday I saw two very big flocks of Pale-bellied Brent Geese (Branta bernicla hrota) coming in off the sea in south-western Iceland, arriving after a mammoth crossing of the Greenland icecap and the Denmark Strait from their breeding islands in northern Canada. They're the first ones I've seen this autumn, and a clear sign that the summer is well and truly over. They'll stay here for a month or so, refuelling before heading to the UK and Ireland for the winter.

Anyone noticed any movements of geese yet?

E Hi Edward I observed a single male brant 10-22-04 in Cleveland Ohio on the shore of Lake Erie,I have been told a flock of 10 were seen a few miles East of mine a day later.
Sam

[camelbirder]

At last, while counting Gulls on the Camel Estuary, last night, 18 Pale-bellied Brent Geese flew in. A lovely sight. :bounce:

[bob parsons]

The other day we were talking about Cackling Goose. For all the info go to---
www.sibleyguides.com/canada cackling.htm

Question--is it Cackling or Crackling? Better check spelling first.

[Bill A]

It's Cackling Goose. These have been spotted here in SE Michigan, as have a number of Snow Geese, and of course thousands of Canada's.

Bill

[erik]

Last weekend on one of the Dutch isles, hundreds of Brents were foraging as well as many whitefronts. Around my hometown there are lots of whitefronts, bean and greylags.

[Andrew]

Highest recorded personally so far is 173 Dark-bellied Brents at Dawlish Warren on the 10th November. Since then three Pale-bellies have been reported.

[Edward]

Spring wildfowl migration has already begun, with 20 Whooper Swans in off the sea in SE Iceland on 25 February. Many thousands to follw. Any movements in the UK or elsewhere?

E

[Jane Turner]

My local Brent Goose (pb) flock is about 60% of its peak numbers now Edward

[Edward]

My local Brent Goose (pb) flock is about 60% of its peak numbers now Edward

So I imagine they'll be staying for a bit longer on the Wirral, Jane. We don't get them until the first week of April usually, a few trickle in at the end of March sometimes. Let me know when they leave so I can amaze my friends here by accurately predicting the first arrival of Brents ;-)

Talking of wildfowl, a friend of mine found 27 King Eiders in a 5,000 strong Common Eider raft yesterday. Nothing to do with migration but interesting nonetheless, almost worth driving out to see. Shame I'm at work.

E

[RecoveringScot]

300 Pinkfeet have gone north high up so far today here in Aberdeen.

[derekjake]

Spring wildfowl migration has already begun, with 20 Whooper Swans in off the sea in SE Iceland on 25 February. Many thousands to follw. Any movements in the UK or elsewhere?

E
hi edward ,
great to hear from you again , the number of pinks on the norfolk coast wells area are dropping all the time now as the geese that winter here are making their way back up to scotland getting ready to drop of and make their way back to lucky old you , look out for the juv snow goose that has spent the winter with the pinks it might just end up with you , regards derekjake

[STRIDER]

Flocks of 250 Pintail, 750 Pink-footed Geese, hundreds of Greylags, Wigeon and Teal still occupy their winter haunts here on the Beauly Firth. Expect Pink-feet numbers to build from the south in the next few weeks before onward migration to Iceland.

Whoopers have been scarce on the Beauly Firth since October but saw my first 2 here again on Sunday. Where have they been all winter ?

Interestingly the Kessock Bridge flock of (Icelandic) Redshanks suddenly doubled to 850 on 31 January. They sat roosting even at low tide looking very tired. Where had they come from ? Have many Redshank arrived in Iceland yet ?

Still a good flock of 1360 Dunlin on the Beauly Firth on Sunday. Maybe Icelandic.

[Edward]

Thanks for the replies to this rejuvenated thread.
Fascinating to hear about movements of geese within the UK although it's still a little while before they'll make the crossing here. Seeing a noisy skein arriving in off the sea or seeing a flock White-fronts or Brent passing high overhead off towards Greenland is one of the greatest thrills in birding for me.
Just for interest the first dates of geese arriving in Iceland last year were
Pink-footed 30 March
White-fronted 30 March
Greylag 7 March (unusually early)
Barnacle 2 April
Brent 20 March (unsually early)
This was the first date of the species and for all species the main body comes a couple of weeks or so later. For example, the first Lesser Black-backed Gull was seen on 17 February but no more have come yet.

We've had no Redshank coming in yet and don't expect to for another 3-4 weeks (there are some that overwinter though).
You can see migrant arrival dates from the last six years here.
http://www.hi.is/~yannk/migrants.html
As there are so few local birders the different dates between years sometimes suggests a difference in observer coverage but it's interesting enough anyway.

I'll keep an eye out for that Snow Goose, Derek. I was at Holkham the other week but didn't see it as I too busy looking for the Shore Lark!

E

[Edward]

Four Brent Geese were reported this morning in western Iceland, a month earlier than normal and two months before numbers peak.

E

[Woodchatshrike]

Up to 8000 pinks in the Loch Leven area now. Birds have been appearing from both the north and the south. It would be nice to get up to 30000 like last March.

[fendetestass]

On Saturday I saw two very big flocks of Pale-bellied Brent Geese (Branta bernicla hrota) coming in off the sea in south-western Iceland, arriving after a mammoth crossing of the Greenland icecap and the Denmark Strait from their breeding islands in northern Canada. They're the first ones I've seen this autumn, and a clear sign that the summer is well and truly over. They'll stay here for a month or so, refuelling before heading to the UK and Ireland for the winter.

Anyone noticed any movements of geese yet?

E

I dont think it can be called "movement of geese", but there is an "absent minded" one (Branta bernicla ¿bernicla?) in La Guardia, Galicia, Northwest of Spain. Took some pictures of him/her a week ago. Hope you like it.

[Nutcracker]

Yes, race bernicla. I guess they are rare in Spain?

[Edward]

12 Barnacles arrived in SE Iceland today, another very very early record.

E

[fendetestass]

Yes, race bernicla. I guess they are rare in Spain?
yep, they are quite rare around here, in fact is THE barnacla carinegra (thats how its called in spanish). Here in Galicia we see one or two every year, though its the first time as far as I know we have the bernicla variety in the river Miño.

[derekjake]

12 Barnacles arrived in SE Iceland today, another very very early record.

E

HI EDWARD, MAYBE THE GOOSE POULATION HERE IN ENGLAND HAVE GOT FED UP WITH OUR WEATHER SNOWED EVERY DAY FOR THE LAST 16 DAYS HERE IN EAST ANGLIA, STILL WE DONT GET BARNACLES IN THIS NECK OF THE WOOD , PINKS , GREYS, WHITE FRONT , STILL I HAVE A PAIR IN MY COLLECTION BUT AFTER 3 YEARS STILL NO GOSLINGS ,
TAKE CARE EDWARD SPEAK TO YOU SOON.

[John Marshall]

Hi Derekjake,

I looked after a small waterfowl collection some years ago, had a pair of Barnacles and in the fourth year they produced four eggs, so dont lose hope yet of yours breeding.
Incidentally most of the Lincs pinkfeet have left moving NW to Lancs and the Solway area.

[derekjake]

Hi Derekjake,

I looked after a small waterfowl collection some years ago, had a pair of Barnacles and in the fourth year they produced four eggs, so dont lose hope yet of yours breeding.
Incidentally most of the Lincs pinkfeet have left moving NW to Lancs and the Solway area.

HI JOHN ,
THANKS FOR GIVEN ME HOPE WITH MY BARNACLES , I ALSO HAD A FIRST SEASON PINK WHICH I WINGTIPPED ON MORNING FLIGHT LAST YEAR, WITHIN TWO DAYS THIS YOUNG GOOSE WAS FEEDING FROM MY HAND, BY LAST AUGUST ITS HEALED WING TIP HAD GROWN AND I DECIDED TO LET IT MAKE UP ITS OWN MIND AS TO IF IT STAID WITH ME OR MADE ITS WAY BACK TO THE COAST , ON RETURNING FROM HOLIDAY I FOUND IT HAD FLOWN SADLY IT DID NOT GET FAR AS I FOUND ITS REMAINS ABOUT A MONTH LATER A MILE FROM THE SMALL LAKE WERE I KEEP MY COLLECTION, OR WHAT WAS LEFT OF IT AFTER CHARLIE HAD EATEN HIS FILL

DID YOU HAVE THE JUV SNOW GOOSE IN LINC JOHN , A FOWLER FRIEND SAID A SNOW GOOSE HAD BEEN SEEN ON THE SOLWAY IN DECEMBER,

[John Marshall]

Hi Derekjake,

I have not heard any positive news of the Juv Snow Goose in South Lincs. It has been frequently at Holkham in Norfolk and indeed it was there today.

Regards

[derekjake]

Hi Derekjake,

I have not heard any positive news of the Juv Snow Goose in South Lincs. It has been frequently at Holkham in Norfolk and indeed it was there today.

Regards

HI JOHN ,
I last saw the snow goose about 3 weeks ago at Holkam it was fliying with the pinks , made me think about that great story Manka the sky gipsy ,
Regards Derekjake

[John Marshall]

Hi Derekjake,

Pleased that you have seen "Manka", I think us old fowlers should be allowed to call the Snow goose this name. I hope "Foxy" is not reincarnated to do the dirty deed!! I have a copy of BB's great story in my library of this type of book. Furthermore my house is named "Tides Ending" I am sure you will follow my drift on this. Thanks for your news.

Regards

[derekjake]

Hi Derekjake,

Pleased that you have seen "Manka", I think us old fowlers should be allowed to call the Snow goose this name. I hope "Foxy" is not reincarnated to do the dirty deed!! I have a copy of BB's great story in my library of this type of book. Furthermore my house is named "Tides Ending" I am sure you will follow my drift on this. Thanks for your news.

Regards

HI JOHN,
Great name for your house i wanted to call ours FOWLERS MOON but the wife had other idears , had to settle for just a number,
take care John regards derekjake.

[seawatcher]

HI JOHN ,
THANKS FOR GIVEN ME HOPE WITH MY BARNACLES , I ALSO HAD A FIRST SEASON PINK WHICH I WINGTIPPED ON MORNING FLIGHT LAST YEAR, WITHIN TWO DAYS THIS YOUNG GOOSE WAS FEEDING FROM MY HAND, BY LAST AUGUST ITS HEALED WING TIP HAD GROWN AND I DECIDED TO LET IT MAKE UP ITS OWN MIND AS TO IF IT STAID WITH ME OR MADE ITS WAY BACK TO THE COAST , ON RETURNING FROM HOLIDAY I FOUND IT HAD FLOWN SADLY IT DID NOT GET FAR AS I FOUND ITS REMAINS ABOUT A MONTH LATER A MILE FROM THE SMALL LAKE WERE I KEEP MY COLLECTION, OR WHAT WAS LEFT OF IT AFTER CHARLIE HAD EATEN HIS FILL

DID YOU HAVE THE JUV SNOW GOOSE IN LINC JOHN , A FOWLER FRIEND SAID A SNOW GOOSE HAD BEEN SEEN ON THE SOLWAY IN DECEMBER,

Excuse me - but should you be discussing fouling ( I mean fowling) tales on this web site? Nothing to be proud of wing-tipping a pinkfoot on a morning flight. Is a living and wounded goose that is later hand-reared some sort of a prize? I hope wildfoulers are not uising the info on this site to stay up to date with goose and duck movements throughout the country - that is just not on.
SW

[John Marshall]

Derekjake,

Are you going to answer Seawatchers thread?????

[derekjake]

Excuse me - but should you be discussing fouling ( I mean fowling) tales on this web site? Nothing to be proud of wing-tipping a pinkfoot on a morning flight. Is a living and wounded goose that is later hand-reared some sort of a prize? I hope wildfoulers are not uising the info on this site to stay up to date with goose and duck movements throughout the country - that is just not on.
SW

HI SEAWATCHER,
Sorry if we have up set you , pity you are not as open minded as the admin, if they were not happy with what is posted they would deleat it ,
No im not proud that i wingtipped the young pinkfoot no fowler goes out of his way to wound ducks or geese , but sadly with the banning of lead this is happening more often, as the shot that we are forsed to use is no way as good as lead.
Tell me seawatcher would you have been more happy if i had rung its neck,because it was only a young goose i decided to give it a chance to live if it died then i still had a sunday lunch it would not be wasted.
If i had wanted to keep the goose as a prize as you put it i would have pioned it.
sir peter scott him self was a fowler and also had his own collection of ducks and geese this is what then led him to open up his wildfowl collection to the public.
wild goose no longer goes fowling but like my self has a great love of the wild marsh , and no dout one day i will no longer wish my self to shoot any more.
as for wild goose using bf for imformation as to find geese and ducks i think after 60 years he could tell the likes of you a hell of a lot more about them than any body else on bf.
hope this helps you understand
regards derekjake

[seawatcher]

HI SEAWATCHER,
Sorry if we have up set you , pity you are not as open minded as the admin, if they were not happy with what is posted they would deleat it ,
No im not proud that i wingtipped the young pinkfoot no fowler goes out of his way to wound ducks or geese , but sadly with the banning of lead this is happening more often, as the shot that we are forsed to use is no way as good as lead.
Tell me seawatcher would you have been more happy if i had rung its neck,because it was only a young goose i decided to give it a chance to live if it died then i still had a sunday lunch it would not be wasted.
If i had wanted to keep the goose as a prize as you put it i would have pioned it.
sir peter scott him self was a fowler and also had his own collection of ducks and geese this is what then led him to open up his wildfowl collection to the public.
wild goose no longer goes fowling but like my self has a great love of the wild marsh , and no dout one day i will no longer wish my self to shoot any more.
as for wild goose using bf for imformation as to find geese and ducks i think after 60 years he could tell the likes of you a hell of a lot more about them than any body else on bf.
hope this helps you understand
regards derekjake

derekjake,
I am of course aware that no fowler goes out of their way to wound ducks or geese.
I understood the object of wildfowling was to kill birds for consumption. I don't think that the banning of lead shot can be blamed for birds being wounded - birds also recieved injuries during the days of lead.
I don't think you would have rung it's neck - rather you wondered if I would rather you Wrung (with w) it's neck. I won't go into that debate - I am a birdwatcher and a dead bird is of little interest to me.
Think you are jumping the gun a bit if you assume that "Wild goose" John Marshall knows more about finding geese than myself or anyone else on BF.
SW

[Reneadelerhof]

for my traineeship i studied migrating geese near the river IJssel in the middle of the netherlands, I spotted aroud 12000 Greater White-fronted Geese, 9500 Grelags, 2500 taiga bean and 2500 Egyptian geese in 3 months.
I also counted a group of 20 canada geese and 1 bar-headed goose and 1 red-breasted goose, probably escaped.

[Nutcracker]

2500 Egyptian geese

Where would they be migrating??

The UK feral population (about half this size?) is very sedentary

[Reneadelerhof]

sadly they don't really migrate

but these are offspring of escaped egyptian geese and the population of this species is surpisingly growning. This winter the temperature dropped to -15 degrees celcius at night and -5 daytime (not very commen in its original habitat)

[Edward]

Went out for a drive on Monday to see if any geese had arrived in southern Iceland. We counted 126 Greenland White-fronted and a similar number of Greylag, the vanguard of much larger numbers to come. The first Pink-footed Geese have also arrived but we didn't see any. Brent Geese have started to trickle in very slowly near Reykjavík, a much bigger arrival should occur in the next couple of weeks. There are masses of Whooper Swans in southern Iceland now, a couple of thousand at some sites. Golden Plovers are also arriving and I heard singing Snow Buntings in the mountains near Reykjavík on Sunday. Ah spring!

E

[timmyjones]

Went out for a drive on Monday to see if any geese had arrived in southern Iceland. We counted 126 Greenland White-fronted and a similar number of Greylag, the vanguard of much larger numbers to come. The first Pink-footed Geese have also arrived but we didn't see any. Brent Geese have started to trickle in very slowly near Reykjavík, a much bigger arrival should occur in the next couple of weeks. There are masses of Whooper Swans in southern Iceland now, a couple of thousand at some sites. Golden Plovers are also arriving and I heard singing Snow Buntings in the mountains near Reykjavík on Sunday. Ah spring!

Its weird as all the birds that you mention are all our winter visitors have you noticed any redwings returning yet or do they normally come a bit later

[Edward]

Its weird as all the birds that you mention are all our winter visitors have you noticed any redwings returning yet or do they normally come a bit later

And where do you think they go when not wintering in Britain, Timmy? ;-)

Redwings are coming back now (although we do have some overwintering in the city) but there haven't been any massive arrivals yet around here. I remember seeing thousands and thousands on 2 April last year in SE Iceland. The main body of Redwings will be appearing very soon.

E

[timmyjones]

i said its weird because most of our summer visitors come from africa a long way away where as Iceland isn't that far away from Britain

[derekjake]

Went out for a drive on Monday to see if any geese had arrived in southern Iceland. We counted 126 Greenland White-fronted and a similar number of Greylag, the vanguard of much larger numbers to come. The first Pink-footed Geese have also arrived but we didn't see any. Brent Geese have started to trickle in very slowly near Reykjavík, a much bigger arrival should occur in the next couple of weeks. There are masses of Whooper Swans in southern Iceland now, a couple of thousand at some sites. Golden Plovers are also arriving and I heard singing Snow Buntings in the mountains near Reykjavík on Sunday. Ah spring!

E

HI EDWARD,
Hope your okay are norfolk coast is a lonely old place now
with out the wild call of the pinks, keep a look out for the snow goose or MANKA as JOHN WILDGOOSE AND MY SELF HAVE NAMED IT,
take care edward and enjoy the pinks while they are with you,
Regards derekjake.

[Edward]

A Snow Goose turned up in western Iceland yesterday with Greenland White-fronted Geese. It's thought to be probably the same one which left Wexford with a flock of WF on 6 April.

E

[derekjake]

A Snow Goose turned up in western Iceland yesterday with Greenland White-fronted Geese. It's thought to be probably the same one which left Wexford with a flock of WF on 6 April.

E

HI EDWARD,
The snow goose that was at Holkam has turned up in Lancashirethen made its way up to wigtown bay we think as this goose was with pinkfeet which it spent its time in norfolk with,
regards DEREKJAKE.

[John Marshall]

Edward and Derekjake,

The Snow goose with the Greenland whitefronts must be another individual. As you say, I think "Manka" is at Wigtown Bay still with pinkfeet. Hopefully we may get it back in Norfolk in the autumn.

Regards to you both

[Edward]

Saw masses and masses of Whooper Swans, White-fronted, Pink-feet, Greylag and Barnacle Geese in S Iceland today. The air is also thick with the sound of drumming Snipe (never out of earshot) and displaying Redshanks and Golden Plovers. It's offically spring.

E

[derekjake]

Saw masses and masses of Whooper Swans, White-fronted, Pink-feet, Greylag and Barnacle Geese in S Iceland today. The air is also thick with the sound of drumming Snipe (never out of earshot) and displaying Redshanks and Golden Plovers. It's offically spring.

E

HI EDWARD ,
WHAT A GREAT DAY OUT ALL MY FAVORITE BIRDS IN ONE DAY LUCKY OLD YOU .
REGARDS DEREKJAKE.