Where do you go to my lovely?

On Tuesday BTO ringers from the SCAN ringing group and RSPB staff at Ynys-hir caught and ringed 25 barnacle geese from our increasing winter flock. Barnacle geese breed in Greenland and Svalbard with small populations in Finland and Denmark, a large proportion of these winter in Britain and Ireland. In addition, there are substantial feral populations in England. The Dyfi birds arrive annually in early to mid-September and leave by early January we do not know where they come from or go to. Since the flock has increased in number and now numbers 300-400 birds it was felt important to know if it was a new, wild wintering population or just feral birds. Of the 25 birds, 23 were adults and two were juveniles. Each was ringed and measured and had a special plastic colour ring added so that it could be easily identified in the field. It is hoped that birdwatchers in the UK and across Europe will look out for these birds so that we can find out more about this beautiful bird.