Observations of ringed Brent Geese

Capturing and individually marking Brent Geese with coloured leg rings and observing these birds in the field forms a central component of our on-going long term study into survival, dispersal and other aspects of their demography.



We greatly welcome your sightings of marked birds (such as shown on the picture below) and if you do observe any marked birds please submit them using one of the methods below. These differ primarily with respect to the volume of records you are contributing.















Ringed adult Brent Goose with two 1st winters. The association of the young birds would suggest that this adult may be part of a family unit. These tend to walk as a group and with a little patience and experience it is relatively straightforward to work out 'who is with who'. This adult would be described as BIww (Right leg number/letter (B), Left leg number/letter (I), Right leg colour (White), Left leg colour (White)); Photo: CME.

For occasional or infrequent observations you may want to submit your observations by e-mailing Graham McElwaine.

Alternatively and especially if you have a larger volume of observations, you can download a proforma, complete and e-mail as an attachment.

In return for submitting records you will receive a detailed history on the bird (or at least as detailed as is available), including the occassion of the initial capture, the birds gender, age etc., and of course where is has been observed and when prioir to your observation.
Where you have a series of observations it is probably easier for inputting and receiving data if the spreadsheet is completed and sent via e-mail to Graham McElwaine.






Graham McElwaine who coordinates the resightings effort, maintains the database and provides feedback to a growing network of observers throughout the flyway. Once or twice a year he even gets out to read some rings himself!; Photo: Kendrew Colhoun, IBGRG/WWT.

The key information you should collect in addition to the rings themselves are:

1. Date: dd/mm/yy

2. Location: Describe in as much detail as possible - e.g. part of a bay (see attached list of locations). If your site is not on this list or your are in any way unsure, it would be helpful if you put down national 6-figure Grid References for GB/Ireland observations and Latitude/Longitude for observations elsewhere

3. Ring combinations: Recording the colour and inscribed letter or number on each leg. The majority of individuals carry a single digit on each leg and may or may not have a metal ring.
The typical system for recording the leg bands on an individual is RIGHT Character LEFT Character; RIGHT Colour LEFT Colour In the example shown this bird would be FZyy (RIGHT Leg: F LEFT leg: Z RIGHT Colour Y (Yellow) LEFT Colour Y (Yellow).
The colour options are aqua blue, yellow, lime, white, dark blue*, red*, and blue* (all except those marked * are black characters on the coloured background)

4. Associations: Recording if there are adult or young birds associating and their status - for example was the associate ringed or unringed; if a family group, how many young in the family unit?

5. Flock Size: Recording the number of birds in the flock and enclosing in square brackets [ ] if an estimate

6. Number checked: Recording the precise or estimated number of individuals in the flock checked for the presence of rings

7. Habitat: Noting the main habitat the observation was made in - typically IT (Intertidal), SM (Saltmarsh), RS (Rocky shore - non-estuarine coast), GR (Grassland)

8. API: This is an Abdominal Profile Index which can be used in the field as a crude index of body condition. Further details of the utility of this method are provided on the staging ecology page

We use single numbers or single letters (as shown) engraved into a coloured background. Photo: Alex Portig, IBGRG.

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SUBMITTING RECORDS

If you have a volume of records and would prefer to enter data onto a spreadsheet and submit records on-line please save the spreadsheet Brent Ringing Datasheet to your computer, rename it and e-mail to Graham McElwaine.

A notebook is handy, but if you're out and have no pen, pencil or notebook to hand be adaptable as one of our observers has been!



If you have fewer records and wish to submit records using the on-line form, please complete the boxes below for each observation.

You should expect to receive a response from us within several weeks during the busiest periods. This will include the known resightings history of the individual(s) you have observed.



If you have no notebook but have a digital camera and need to write down your notes here is one way to do it. Genius. Photo: Liam Ryan.

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And finally if you see a marked waterbird and it is not one of our Brent Geese (our colleagues on the continent are also marking Atlantic Brent and Dark-bellied Brent - you can sent them to us and we will happily forward these records) your first port of call ought to be the register of colour-marking schemes which is at: www.cr-biring.be.