GB Site Inventory
The map below shows all the sites. You can pull, zoom in and zoom out. Click on the markers for an extract of the information to be found on the site pages.
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The development of the site inventory represents an important step in development of this web site. At present, we have implemented site profiles for all the Scottish, Welsh and English sites known to have held regular numbers of Greenland White-fronted Geese at some time in the recent past. However, we very much hope to extend this to embrace other areas of the range in due course. At the present stage, this is very much a first draft available for comment and we very much welcome input and comments, both to correct factual errors, but also improve the looks, utility and quality of the whole website.
Because Greenland White-fronted Geese tend to site loyal, it is possible to undertake a treatment of their status and distribution by regular survey of known sites, and now that such surveillance has been in operation for many years, it offers a basis for comparisons between sites. Our aim has been to provide such an overview that is accessible to all, but specifically to support conservation actions, and to this end, we are very grateful to Scottish Natural Heritage for providing funding to enable the web inventory site development.
Each site profile is available via the clickable links in orange to the left, with each site identified by a site name, grouped by area. We have attempted to provide more or less even History treatment for each historically known site used in Scotland, Wales and England by the geese outside of the breeding season, but the format has been modified according to availability and quality of information. The aim has been to provide a historical background to use of each site based on the available literature. Since we have placed huge reliance upon 3 core references, we cite the following abbreviations throughout:
Berry (1939) indicates Berry, J. (1939). The status and distribution of wild geese and wild duck in Scotland. International Wildfowl Inquiry Vol. II. The University Press, Cambridge.
A-W (1963) indicates Atkinson-Willes, G. L. (1963). Wildfowl in Great Britain. Nature Conservancy Monograph No. 3. Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, London.
R&O (1979) indicates Ruttledge, R.F. & Ogilvie, M.O. (1979) The past and current status of the Greenland White-fronted Goose in Ireland and Britain. Irish Birds 1:293-363.
The history section is followed by a description of the Status of flocks at each resort their recent trends in abundance and significant changes, which is followed, where data permit, of counts goings as far back as available for each resort. Count data are presented for each winter season, identified by the autumn year concerned, hence 1960 indicates counts from winter 1960/1. Because these are Maximum counts, they may include exceptionally large counts where local numbers are supplemented, for instance, by autumn migrants, so care must be exercised in their interpretation. Very low counts from some years may also reflect that the flock or the greater part of its number, were not detected in a given year, rather than implying absence, unless otherwise explained in the text.
Wherever possible, we ask observers to sample the numbers of first winter birds in each flock to gain an estimate of annual Breeding success. This has not been possible for many flocks, but for some of the larger flocks there are good runs of data which enable assessment of trends in production. This is especially important in very recent years, where in all but a few cases, reproductive output in all flocks has been very low since the mid 1990s and has been the cause of the contemporary decline in numbers. These are presented as a graph, with a plot to compare with production of young amongst the very large sample sizes carried out annually on Islay by Dr Malcolm Ogilvie, to give a visual impression of reproductive performance of each group relative to the largest Scottish resort.
We have attempted to provide details of the Feeding areas and habitats used by the geese and the associated Roost site used as a refuge from disturbance and night-time resting place, together with some assessment of Habitat change where this may impinge on the geese and their effective conservation. There follow sections on Aircraft disturbance, Hunting disturbance, Agricultural disturbance and Site safeguards or disturbance refuge where such information is available to further inform on factors likely to be affecting the geese, their abundance and distribution at each resort. For convenience, and where appropriate, we identify the SNH Natural Heritage Zone/Area in which each flock lies and summarise any present or future Threats where known posed to each flock. A section on linkages with other sites provides a very brief resume of how the movements of individually marked birds seen at the site help link any one resort with others by the sifts in wintering site shown by these geese. Each section concludes with a list of References specific to the site where appropriate.
