Barnacle Goose round-up

Now have the final figures for the round-up on 11th July at Roxton.



Barnacle Geese - 298 ringed (146 retraps, 152 new); 40 birds left the scene unringed.
Of the 152 new birds, 72 had darvics added.
Greylag - 2 new, both had darvics added.
Canada Goose - 14 new birds ringed.

In 2010, at least 19 birds carrying darvics were seen elsewhere but not retrapped here, making the number of known birds at least 357 from a total of 403 marked since the 2003 moult. In total, 270 birds have had darvic colour rings added.

Colour ringing

For an inclusive article on what colour-ringing is all about, read Mark Grantham's article on Bird Guides. [Or paste this link into your browser - http://www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?a=2133]

Royal Visit

LGRE, head of UK400, paid a fleeting visit to the Barnacle flock, currently in the sheep field at Willington. He click counted the flock and also kindly counted the red Darvics, noting the inscriptions of 20 of them.


"I decided to check the non-naturalised* flock of BARNACLE GEESE at
Willington, of which there were 337 of them and 2 Greylag Geese feeding on
beet in the sheep field. Some 33 individuals bore red plastic rings with white
letters, including inscriptions BA, LC, IP, BS, DP, IC, FS, CI, II, LS, AC, AL,
FA, JH, CA, BD, NU, DU, IZ and EV." [2 errors corrected. EN]

A set of 18 blank colour rings for UK Barnacle Geese

The Darvic inscriptions are actually seperated by a vertical white bar and are correctly signified as 'Red B bar A', for instance, read from the bottom up.

From the above record, 2 birds were ringed 6 years & 6 months ago as an adult and a youngster in July 2003. 3 adults were ringed in July 2004 and recaptured again in July 2007. 12 birds were ringed in July 2005, comprising 5 adults and 7 juveniles, 2 of the youngsters being recaught in July 2007. 3 birds were ringed in July 2007, all as adults. Just two of these 20 birds were recorded by another ring-reader here in October 2009.

The Barnacle Goose July 2007 catch - birds corralled for ringing

He, however, managed to 'scope just 13 colour rings; these were 'KS, KT, JH, AT, AC, BN, DH, DS, FZ, HX, HF, LL, LT'. These were made up of 1 adult (JH) from 2003, obviously something important in the hierarchy, a known female from the 2004 round-up, 7 birds first caught in 2005, 5 as adults and 2 as 'babies', with 1 adult (AC) picked out again by LGRE, and 5 birds from July 2007 that were full grown adults at the time.

Post-script: What is a "non-naturalised" flock? This flock's origins go back to the Solway (& Spitzbergen) in the late 'sixties and the ever increasing numbers have been living and breeding in north-east Bedfordshire since an inadvertent escape in the the 'seventies.
*BOU category C2 - naturalised established species, as evidenced here.

A Red Letter Day

Yesterday, young Kane sent us a string of e-mails in his c-r coordinator capacity. 13 new records of our Barnacles. They weren't that far from home, just 7 km WSW at their main winter grazing fields at Willington. Here they associate with other feral(?) Barnacles not just from our patch but probably from further afield.

It was very kind of a visiting birder from Essex to take the trouble to go through the flock and read 13 different combinations for us, something I've not been able to do. This action turned up one of the first birds we colour-ringed some 6 years and 3 months ago. A couple of the birds had a roving history but nothing like the two far ranging birds we highlighted in earlier blogs.


Are we going to get more records this winter from enthusiastic ring readers located elsewhere? We hope so!
PS. our rings are: - 32 mm RED, white (alpha,bar,alpha); please read from bottom up.

Bargo Red B bar P - update

The blog dated 21st June has been updated to include a record just received from Welshpool, Powys.

Bargo news just in - Red B/P

We have received a late record (see above) of this bird at Welshpool, Powys, 200 kilometers WNW from Roxton (Beds) on 5th June.

Old Moor [RSPB] nr. Wath upon Dearne

Since leaving Drayton Bassett (Staffs) on or after 9th May, it turned up after a week at Sandbach Flashes (Ches) on the 16th May, 87 km further north. It was sighted there with 5 other Barnacles, one of which is the local feral bird. Three weeks later on 5th June, he or she was spotted in Welshpool (Powys) 75 km to the south-west. Over a week later on 17th June, it (I really mean this "male" and his four companions) turned up the other side of the Pennines near Wath upon Dearne (S.Yorks) which is a further 154 km north-easterly this time.
However, the day after, 18th June, they were all 5 seen together down at Rutland Water (Leics), amounting to a days travel of 106 km in a southerly direction.
What are these birds doing if not looking for somewhere to colonise? 1295590 was ringed as an adult back in July 2005. Where were they during the intervening month (May/June)?

Thanks to all those who keep us informed of the wanderings of our colour-marked Barnies!
[See original Blogs of 9th & 21st May]

PS. There were only 2 companions when B/P was seen at Slimbridge in winter 07/08.

Red B bar P

Believed to be still heading north, one week on.
Latest reported from Sandbach Flashes on 16th, a further 87 km NW in a week (now 178 km NW of Roxton - where it was ringed 1392 days before)
One suggestion is that it's on its way from Slimbridge (winter) to Caerlaverock for the summer !!! I wonder.

Bargo Red B bar P

Thanks to Geoff Williams and Tom Perrins who e-mailed this one through.


It is 18 months since we last heard of this bird and its 2 'chums', that was at Slimbridge, where we think it likes to spend mid-winter tucked away on the New Grounds. Today it turned up in a different vector - Tamworth, Staffordshire - with 2 'chums'.
Are they on their way back "home", I wonder? We'll find out, perhaps, on 18/19th July.

Recapture history for 1295590
Ringed 24-07-2005 Roxton, Beds [TL1554] - near "The Black Cat(s) A1 round-about" [There are now TWO Black Cats on this round-about!]

Sighted (R) 02-04-2007 Coate Water, Swindon (121km SW, 1yr 252days)
Sighted (NR) 25-05-2007 Cassington GP, nr. Oxford (80km WSW, 1yr 305days)
Sighted (R) 02-11-2007 New Grounds, WWT Slimbridge (151km WSW, 2yrs 101days) [was most likely this bird here in winter 2006/07 also]
Sighted (NR) 09-05-2009 Drayton Bassett pits, nr. Tamworth (107km WNW, 3yrs 289days)

Barnacles @ Roxton/Willington

Things are moving at last. Some birds are pairing up and visiting potential nest sites, with or without other pairs.

A few birds are already listed as "missing". A count in February had about 344 birds at Willington; the latest combined count only adds up to 280. That's 60+ not staying with the main flock(s).

So far, recent counts at Roxton have varied between 25 & 150 birds. Some birds will go to Zwetsloot's (Blunham) and Gt. Barford.


It would be nice to cannon net the flock in winter and 'darvic' a good proportion. This would enable a better understanding of where they go to on their wanderings. 'Til then, we'll have to settle for ringing a few more birds in July with red colour rings.