The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) is stepping up its conservation efforts to save the Red-breasted Goose after recent surveys confirmed the population numbers just over 30,000 birds – a decline of over half in just 10 years.

The species is classified as Endangered on the World Conservation Union Red List and WWT, as part of the Red-breasted Goose International Working Group, is pleased to announce a series of developments aimed at reversing this worrying decline.

- WWT is funding a field station at Durankulak in Bulgaria (the key wintering site for Red-breasted Geese) which will provide a focal point for Red-breasted Goose conservation action locally, including accommodation for survey teams and researchers, advice to farmers to manage their land sympathetically for the geese, and an education centre for tourists and local schools. The land was purchased in June, design plans are underway and construction should be completed by summer 2009.

- WWT led an International Action Planning Workshop for Red-breasted Goose in Romania in February 2008. This identified major threats and knowledge gaps, and formulated key actions needed for their conservation, including
→ conserving habitat in breeding areas
→ identifying and ensuring designation of key feeding areas as protected sites
→ understanding the effects of climate change on the sites used by the geese
→ mitigating the effects of hunting and disturbance by aligning hunting seasons across flyway and by educating hunters
→ identifying crop rotation systems that are suitable for the geese
→ lobbying for introduction of agri-environmental measures targeted at Red-breasted Geese

- WWT is planning to track ten Red-breasted Geese using satellite transmitters in 2009, following a successful bid to the BBC Wildlife Fund. WWT scientists will travel to the breeding grounds on the Taimyr Peninsula next summer to catch the geese and fit transmitters. Following the birds’ movements will help to identify any previously unknown sites, particularly in Russia, Kazakhstan and the Ukraine, and give us a better understanding of site and habitat use.

- WWT is also preparing a monitoring strategy for Red-breasted Geese across the flyway. This will ensure standardised methods for monitoring population size and trends, monitoring breeding success, and assessing threats. The strategy will be drafted in autumn 2008.

Next month, scientists from leading UK conservation charity, the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT), will return to Brazil to capture and fit radio tags to nine of only 250 remaining Brazilian Mergansers in the world, on the São Francisco River.

This ambitious move comes less than six months after WWT’s Dr Baz Hughes and Richard Hearn were among the first ever people to capture Brazilian Mergansers for conservation purposes, during a field visit to Brazil’s Serra da Canastra National Park by members of an international working group on Brazilian Merganser conservation.

And this Saturday (16 August), visitors to the renowned annual Rutland Bird Fair in Leicestershire will have the chance to hear Baz talk about what he described as “the best day of my professional career” – the groundbreaking WWT conservation mission to save the Brazilian Merganser, and the success of his last visit to Brazil.

Brazilian Mergansers are one of just six species of wildfowl classified as Critically Endangered on the World Conservation Union Red List. They are extremely sensitive to habitat loss and disturbance caused by logging, river siltation, mining and tourism in the area, which is why numbers have dwindled dramatically over the years.

Dr Baz Hughes, WWT’s Head of Species Conservation, said: “Catching the first ever pair of Brazilian Mergansers was truly the best day of my professional career. It is fantastic that we have been able to fit radio transmitters to these birds which will allow us to discover valuable facts about their habitat use.

“Brazilian Mergansers are extremely sensitive to disturbance and if a favoured area is regularly disturbed, they won’t use these areas. Therefore it is particularly vital that we gain greater knowledge of all sites used by Brazilian Mergansers so we can take steps to ensure the habitat is protected. We hope that fitting radio transmitters to nine more birds in September will bring us a step closer to fully identifying and protecting habitats and gain clarity about the threats to the species’ survival.”

WWT is part of an international working group made up of governmental biologists and NGOs which aims to identify and implement priority actions for Brazilian Merganser conservation. Future plans also include WWT overseeing the production of a research and monitoring strategy, and a feasibility study for the development of a captive population of Brazilian Mergansers.