Saving wetlands for wildlife & people
Saving wetlands for wildlife & people
|
|
Abundance Between 3 October 2007 (by which time 14,590 Barnacle Geese had arrived on the Solway) and 19 May 2008 (when 7,000 remained), 20 coordinated counts were carried out across the whole of the Inner Solway Estuary. The peak count was 29,815 recorded on 7 November. As a precaution against the possibility of some of the birds having been counted twice, this count was averaged against all of those within 10% of the next highest count within the October to March period; two counts in all. This procedure gives an adopted population total for 2007/08 of 29,000. This is an increase of almost 16% on the adopted population estimate of 2006/07 (25,000).
As with last winter, goose arrival on the Solway was fairly typical, with 22,640 recorded on 17 October 2007 and almost the whole population present by the end of the month. Breeding success Between 26 September 2007 and 31 March 2008, a total of 27,544 Barnacle Geese was aged by four observers at WWT Caerlaverock and at other sites around the Solway. A total of 35 flocks was sampled, varying in size from 41 to 4,500 birds. Sample size ranged from 41 to 2,500. The overall percentage of young present in these flocks was 12.8%, ranging from 7.0% to 70.7% within individual flocks. As with the 2006/07 season, this value is well above the current 10-year mean (8.5% ±1.6 se), thus representing a good breeding season. Brood size was recorded for a total of 102 families, and the mean brood size per successful pair was 2.4 goslings, with brood sizes ranging from 1-5 goslings, up slightly on the previous year. The mean for the most recent ten year period (1998-2007) is 1.9 (± 0.1 se) goslings per successful pair.
|
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.
