The campaign stars

 

BRENT GEESE

Every year around 25,000 Canadian Light-bellied Brent geese embark on an amazing 8,000km migratory adventure – taking them from their home in Canada all the way to Irish shores and home again.

The geese fly more than 4,000 km in about six weeks to spend each winter in Ireland before making the return trip home to Canada via Iceland. They take a short rest during the spring months to prepare for the long haul back to their Canadian breeding grounds in the High Arctic.

Brent geese are small, dark geese that are about the same size as a mallard. They have a black head and neck and grey-brown back, with a pale belly. Adults also boast a characteristic small white neck patch.

They can be spotted flying in loose flocks along the coast, rather than in tight skeins like their grey geese cousins, and their distinctive babbling calls can often be heard as they communicate with other birds in the flock.

Brent geese spend the breeding season in Arctic tundra with shallow pools, usually near to the sea. They over winter in estuaries and shallow coasts with mudflats and graze on vegetation in fields near the coast, feeding particularly on grasses such as eel-grass.

However, with a small population with fluctuating annual recruitment and wintering and migrating birds depended on a few key sites. Canadian Light-bellied Brent geese are considered threatened. They are soon to be subject of an international single species action plan. This recognises that they are a critical conservation priority and need our help to protect and support them.

There are also a number of other factors affecting the Brent geese population including changes in the availability of food, agricultural conflicts, habitat loss and fragmentation and climate change.

Did you know?

The generic name ‘Branta’ comes from a Norse word ‘brand’ meaning burnt and refers to the black colour of the birds, which separates them from the grey geese. The word brent is derived from this Norse word.

Brent Geese fly at up to 90km/hr and records show the 1,300 km journey from Ireland to Iceland can take the geese 20 hours.

They mainly arrive on local shores year after year in September and October and depart again in March and April, over wintering almost wholly in Ireland.

They can live for up to 19 years.

Where can I see Brent geese in Northern Ireland?

The best place to see Brent geese is at estuaries and salt marshes. Most light-bellied birds are found at Strangford Lough, Lough Foyle, Carlingford Lough and Larne Lough which hold internationally important numbers of the birds and have been classified as Special Protection Areas (SPA) under the EU Birds Directive.

The best place to see large numbers is around the North end of Strangford Lough in autumn where up to 20,000 have occurred.

What can I do to help Brent geese?

Brent geese are a highly publicised species in Northern Ireland and are the subject of the Brent Festival which is held for the arrival of the species. This is held at Castle Espie and is organised by the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust and Ards Borough Council. You can help support the breed through events such as this.

To help ensure conservation management and protection of the populations and habitats you could lend support to organisations working to address these issues, such as the RSPB and WWT.

A number of geese have been colour ringed in recent years and sighting of these can be reported to Graham McElwaine Resightings Coordinator,
Irish Brent Goose Research Group [grahammcelwaine@btinternet.com] A few have also been fitted with radio transmitters and their movements can be followed at www.wwt.org.uk/supergoose/

For more information about Brent geese

The RSPB website at www.rspb.org.uk carries a wealth of information on Brent geese.

Meanwhile, the WWT website at www.wwt.org.uk/supergoose/ follows the fascinating story of the ‘Supergoose’.

At the Environment and Heritage Service website www.ehsni.gov.uk you can read about the Northern Ireland Species Action Plan for these priority birds, approved in March 2005 by the Northern Ireland Biodiversity Group