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.

Meadow Lane, Willington pits - 23/04

First visit of the year (with DTH) to this belt of elderberry and nettle alongside the cycle track [NR51]. The dragonfly pit to the north is now landscaped (Smartie hotel now no longer in existence) and tree-ed up between it and the path. South of the bushes, the field is now covered in dead nettle and rank grass.

Birds caught (2 nets in 2 hours) = 7 new + 3 r/t; Wren 1M/1M, Robin 0/1M, Lotti 1M/1F, White 1M+1F/0, Blaca 2M+1F/0. The 2 retraps were all from each of last year's 2 visits; Wren when a 5 in May, & Robin as a 3 in Sept. The Lotti was a 4Fb at the'spit', Priory (ca. 1.5km away to the SE) in late March '08

Perhaps this site will come into its own when its surroundings are a little more mature. At present, sun and wind limit catching opportunities in this part of the river valley.
There is a pair of Redsh and a pair of Lapwi displaying nearby.