Saving wetlands for wildlife & people

Resources for fieldworkers

Count forms
If you need more count forms it is preferable, for the time being, to obtain them direct from the Speices Monitoring Unit. However, some are available to download here. Please print these forms and send completed to the Waterbird Monitoring Unit at WWT Slimbridge.
Icelandic-breeding Goose Census
Age Assessments



Avian influenza – advice for GSMP participants
Although the risk of transmission of the highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza (H5N1) to humans from wild birds in the UK is remote, all GSMP fieldworkers should have received a copy of an information leaflet on health & safety during fieldwork activities. This leaflet also gives details on how GSMP fieldworkers can help the wild bird surveillance programme by being alert for unusual mortality events. The leaflet can be downloaded here or we can provide a paper copy upon request.

This page will be updated with information regarding H5N1 and the surveillance programme as it becomes available.

Please visit the following web sites for more information regarding H5N1.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/notifiable/disease/ai/ index.htm



Field Ageing Guide
A guide to the field ageing of geese and swans is currently in preparation, and will be made available here in due course. In the meantime, please contact the Species Monitoring Unit if you have any queries about the field ageing of geese and swans.



Duck Ageing & Sexing Guide
Information on the ageing and sexing of ducks in the hand is currently not widely available to ringers within the African-Eurasian flyway. In order to address this, a guide is currently under development in collaboration with the IUCN-SSC Wetlands International Duck Specialist Group. This guide will be web-based, and consist of a series of species accounts that can be printed for use in the field.

In order to make the guide as comprehensive as possible, WWT and the DSG are looking to collaborate with fieldworkers able to contribute. Further information will be posted here and on the DSG website as this project develops. In the meantime, please contact duckspecialistgroup@wwt.org.uk for further information, particularly if you have expertise on particular species that could be used to prepare species accounts.




The Goose & Swan Monitoring Programme (GSMP) monitors numbers and breeding success of geese and swans in the UK during the non-breeding season. GSMP is organised by WWT on behalf of WWT and JNCC.

Email: monitoring@wwt.org.uk

Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust
Slimbridge, Gloucestershire GL2 7BT
T: +44 (0) 1453 891900 E: enquiries@wwt.org.uk
Registered Charity no. 1030884

© Copyright 2009 WWT
All images on this site remain the copyright of WWT or the photographers, and may not be reproduced without prior agreement.