It is with great sorrow that we report the passing of our dear
friend Jón Gunnar Jóhannsson, the trap maker (centre in the photograph
above). Jon was a key member of the Icelandic wing of the Brent goose
research group and we all spent many hours with him talking
about geese and hatching plans to catch them. When we visited Iceland he always greeted
our arrival with warmth, hospitality, generosity and his big smiles, doing just about anything he
could to make the team (of which he was an integral part) successful. In his
day job, he ran an engineering company and his problem-solving was
legendary, we still use many of the tools that he designed and built to aid
catching and processing the birds. He also took great delight in trying to feed
us hákarl (fermented shark) and Brennivin (Icelandic schnapps), which some of us
managed to consume. No challenge was insurmountable for Gunni (demonstrating his very great skill as an engineer), our annual visits to
Iceland will not be the same without him and he will be sadly missed by all of
us.
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