In this blog Conservation Officer Julia Gallagher shares some stories from our National Lottery Heritage funded project working to conserve Greenland white-fronted geese
Tracking Greenland White-fronted geese
As Conservation Officer (CO) for Dumfries and Galloway for the past seven years I have been chairing our local Study group which is made up of RSPB staff, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT), National Trust for Scotland (NTS) and local volunteers. The remit of this group has been to keep a handle on the numbers of Greenland White-fronted geese (GWF) at the two sites we host in Dumfries and Galloway at Loch Ken which includes our reserve at Ken Dee Marshes and at West Freugh in the west of the county both of which are designated as Specially Protected Areas (SPA) on account of the geese. The data we collate also forms part of the national census coordinated by the national GWF Study group.
As CO for the area the information we have gleamed over the years has helped me to do my job in protecting these sites as well as building relations with the local farmers who manage the land that the geese are attracted too. WWT’s Larry Griffin (Senior research officer) has been instrumental in the remit of this group not least in his work fitting tracking collars to geese at both sites over the years which has helped to build our understanding of their movements both while they are here and when they migrate to Greenland in the spring.
I am now in the enviable position of managing our National Lottery Heritage funded project for these geese which launched last summer through the Galloway Glens project. That project has given a new lease of life to our efforts to protect and conserve these geese over the winter. This includes working up farm plans tailored to specific sites and fields that the geese favour in an effort to maintain or improve habitat while making sure that any management doesn’t conflict with the farming business needs. Since there is currently no management funded through Government agri-environment schemes aimed at benefiting GWFs, this has been an interesting exercise and we hope that the result at the end of the project will be to put forward some informed recommendations to the Scottish Government for management options in future schemes.
GWF released from holding pen (Calum Murray)
That’s the long-term goal, but one aspect of the project which has proved a big and more immediate hitter has been the results of the GPS tracking data from birds which Larry collared funded through the project. As conservationists we all recognise the scientific value in the collation of data from GPS which is getting increasingly more sophisticated over the years and gives us amazing insights to wildlife across the planet. I recognised the importance of including this work in our project but perhaps had not anticipated the level of engagement and interest the unfolding data would generate both locally and further afield. I include myself in this since logging onto the live website to check-up on their movements every morning became the start to my working day between December and the end of April.. Capturing birds to fit collars involved five days of Larry’s life waiting in a hedge for geese to turn-up ably assisted by volunteer and long-term GWF specialist Arthur. Five birds were fitted with collars on one cold day in December and were given the inspirational names of 36, 38, 39, XV and XU (yes we know..)!
We have learnt so much already including finer definition of their feeding, loafing and roosting sites in the Loch Ken area. Local farmers have also been hooked on catching-up on their daily activities. Unfortunately, we lost one bird (no 39) through presumed predation when the collar was located by Larry undamaged in a field without its host. The remote movements of this un-hosted collar caused a moment of interest while we tried to work out why a GWF would travel so far east to forage (unprecedented for site faithful birds) until it was revealed (yes you’ve guessed it) that Larry had put the collar in the boot of his car while it was still transmitting. And then came their departure which included enough surprises to rival some well-known soap dramas!
First there was the aborted departure of XV who started its migration early at the end of March along with 38, as did birds from other wintering sites including Islay, only to turn back half way to the staging post in Iceland. It flew as far as Coll before turning back to Loch ken all in one day. Larry informed us that there had been an unfavourable weather front off the west coast of Scotland which impacted their journey - though most birds pushed onto Iceland and certainly none returned to their origin. XV became the focus of much attention over the coming weeks- was it injured, weak, confused? We waited and waited and even stalked it to check on its welfare until XV decided to go for it towards the end of April and pushed on successfully to Iceland.
XV 38 departure from Iceland
In the end XV turned out to be the first of the tracked birds to depart Iceland for Greenland. While we were preoccupied with XV we had taken our eyes off 36 who was still at Loch Ken as birds departed for Iceland in early May. Another flurry of emails and goose stalking to check on its status followed though we could clearly see from the data that it didn’t appear to be unwell and was foraging and roosting as normal. 36 finally departed and was making great head-way to Mull before seemingly changing its mind and turning due north-east to visit the Argyll mainland where it stayed for a few days before pushing back onto Mull. Sadly, that was to be the end of 36’s journey. Larry noted that it had become static when its GPS showed it on the coastal top of Mull. We hope to retrieve the collar in the autumn after the breeding season when we can access all areas in liaison with our colleagues on the Island. It just goes to show that there is safety travelling in numbers. Meanwhile, we await news of the birds return (38, XV, XU) next autumn - hopefully we will have better names for them by then!