Thursday, 20 March 2014

20th March:Light-bellied Brent update

Light-bellied Brent numbers peaked during November to around 3850 with approximately 200 birds still to start their northerly migration.  This seasons age assessments from both Lindisfarne NNR and the Danish wintering sites indicate a low of 5.5% juveniles in the 3800 birds surveyed, potential explanations for this include increased competition for optimal breeding grounds and egg and gosling predation by arctic fox and polar bear.


Light-bellied Brent geese in their Arctic breeding grounds

During April & May the entire population of East Atlantic Light-bellied Brent descend on key Danish sites before continuing to their breeding grounds in Svalbard, Eastern Greenland and Franz Josef Land, during this time counts are undertaken to ascertain a total population figure.

Some stunning photos of Light-bellied Brent taken at Lindisfarne NNR:




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