RATIONALE

The marking and subsequent resightings of individually-marked birds forms a central component of our long-term study as it provides detailed information unavailable by other means.The core objectives of the project include:

(a) Patterns of movement and dispersal - including population structuring, fidelity to breeding, staging or wintering sites, and migration phenology,
(b) Individual life histories - lifetime reproductive success, longevity, mate fidelity
(c) Survival - annual and inter-annual survival rates of birds of known age and status.

Catching a wild creature like a Brent Goose is not an easy business of course! We have caught the majority of birds by two methods - (1) cannon-netting birds on inter-tidal areas (mostly feeding on Zostera or algal beds but also birds coming to roost or drink), grasslands sites (agricultural or amenity grassland sites including golf courses) or saltmarshes. This activity has to be reactive so as we see opportunities we try to take them. (2) helicopter round-ups of flightless moulting adults and flightless young rounded up into corral nets and pushed towards them by people on foot and with the helicopter acting like a sheepdog. An expensive business!

HISTORY

The helicopter round-up technique, North Devon Island, Canada, August 2005; Photo: Kendrew Colhoun, IBGRG/WWT.

The first marking of this population took place in the 1970s in the eastern Queen Elizabeth Islands and it was the subsequent recoveries and resightings of these birds which confirmed the provenance of this population - the Canadian/Irish/Icelandic link.

Captures by Douglas Heyland, Hugh Boyd and co-workers in 1971 and 1972 occurred at Eske Bay, SW Ellesmere Island and Bracebridge Inlet, Bathurst Island. All these birds would have been caught using helicopter round-up techniques. Two adult birds caught at Oske Bay on 8th August 1971 were recovered in Northern Ireland in the autumn of the same year. The bands used were metal tarsal leg bands and it was not until 1974 that collars were used. Observations of a number of these birds in western Iceland in September of that year showed for the first that Iceland was being used as an autumn staging area for birds originating in northern Canada.

CURRENT RINGING PROGRAMME

The current phase of marking and resightings is much more intensive than that previously undertaken - the geographical scope of ringing and observations is much greater than before, as are the intensity of observations and the number of birds being ringed. To date, just under 2,400 Brent Geese have been newly-marked at 9 locations in Canada, Iceland and Ireland.
The pictures below illustrate our catching methods - either cannon-netting, or in the early August moult period in the arctic, using corral helicopter round-ups.

Catching Brent with cannon nets is a tricky business but the team prides itself on having attained a high level of competence. Detailed reconaissance always helps as does a bit of luck. Only once has the wearing of the lucky tops failed to bring home the bacon (see picture).

Drs Bearhop and Inger displaying their lucky Hafnarfjordur and Reno Goose tops after yet another successful morning on Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland. There is a school of thought that these tops give off pheramone type chemical attractants which work better on the mudflat and are less successful in nightclubs; Photo: Kendrew Colhoun, IBGRG/WWT.













Boom! Catch at Greyabbey, Strangford Lough, October 2005; Photo: Kendrew Colhoun, IBGRG/WWT.
Second in a series of pictures at Greyabbey, October 2005; Photo: Kendrew Colhoun, IBGRG/WWT.





















[MAP][Sites to be listed are: IRELAND - Strangford Lough, Dundrum Bay, Carlingford Lough, Dungarvan, Tralee Bay; ICELAND - Alftanes, Laxavogur, HvalafjordurCANADA Ð Reindeer Bay, Bathurst Island Aug 2005 (76.393N, -97.755W), August 2007 (08/08/07) Allison Inlet, S Bathurst Island (75.1502.99, -99.5357.37); Schei Peninsula, Axel Heiberg Island 02/08/07 and 05/08/07 (80.022N, -88.062W)]

In excess of 70 successful cannon-net firings have occurred since February 2001, the majority of these being taken by Robin Ward (WWT), Gudmundur Gudmundsson (IINH) and Alyn Walsh (NPWS). Kerry Mackie (WWT) secured his cannon-netting licence in late 2007 and has made an early impression, catching record high numbers of birds at Dundrum Bay, Co. Down and setting a new project record with over 150 birds at Enniscrone, Co. Sligo. On average, X birds have been caught in one firing and prior to January 2008, the 100-mark has only been exceeded once at Killyleagh, Strangford Lough on 18th February 2004 (n=103).





The Icelandic 'armoury' - the cannons used for our cannon-netting operations; Photo: Kendrew Colhoun, IBGRG/WWT.



August 2007; Photo: Alyn Walsh, NPWS.



Over the period we have been helped by lots of people and their input has been integral to our ability to set nets and/or process birds. These people deserve individual mention and include (in alphabetical sequence):

Stuart Bearhop, Kerry Mackie, Alex Portig, Jon Gunnar Johannsson, Olafur Torfason, Hallgrimmur, Freidis X, Svenja Auhage, Graham McElwaine, Gerry Murphy, Emma Meredith, James Orr, John McCullough, Tim O'Donoghue, Frank King, Hugh Boyd, Ruth Cromie, Carl Mitchell, Richard Inger, Lynne Tinkler, Robbie McDonald, Kerry Crawford, Seamus Burns, Jill Robb, Staffan Roos, Alan Harisson, David Tosh, Brian Duffy, Cyril Saich, Pat Smiddy, Chris Wilson, Lorcan Scott, Tony Murray, Joe Devlin, James Robinson.

On our non-cannon netting helicopter round-ups we have been assisted by Austin Reed, Josee Lefevbre, Francis St Pierre, Louis Lesage, Sean Boyd, Malcolm McAdie, Garry Grigg, PILOTS (Lauren, Jim Barry, Gerry, Dave).

Cannon-net catches have taken place in all sorts of settings - baited inter-tidal or grassland sites, saltmarsh, golf courses, freshwater inflows into estuaries, sometimes with and sometimes without decoys. [$Statistics on catch rate on different settings$]
VIDEOOur helicopter round-ups of moulting birds have taken place at three locations in Arctic Canada - two sites on Bathurst Island and one on Axel Heiberg Island.

The success of our long-term project depends very much on contributions from a volunteer network of ring observers. To date over 25,000 observations of XXXX individual Brent Geese have been made, 99% (n=XXXX) are birds from our Eastern High Arctic population. We need your records! You can submit these by various means: by post, e-mail or on-line.





The manager of the resightings database is: Graham McElwaine, 100 Strangford Rd., Downpatrick BT30 9JD. E-mail: grahammcelwaine@btinternet.com The best means of submitting information (ensuring consistency) is by using one of the two following forms:

1. An on-line form for a smaller number of records or ad hoc records (where location and other data is not repeated).

2. An Excel spreadsheet proforma for submission of a volume of records which you can download here complete IN FULL and send via. e-mail to grahammcelwaine@btinternet.com.