Iceland - staging

It would be great to be in Iceland - where the core teams now are - but my view is of the Mourne mountains shrouded in cloud, trees blowing in the wind and a herd of cows happily munching very green grass. No Iceland for me!

By the looks of things, the grass isn't quite so green in Iceland. The one picture I've seen was of a generally brown, cold- and wind-burnt set of fields which is not untypical for what the Brent encounter when they arrive in April and early May. A very marked contrast from the rich grass they last munched before they left Ireland.

Our migrant goose researchers are also staging this month in western Iceland, catching and tagging Brent and reading rings. This spring is the 12th spring there has been a significant UK/Ireland involvement in the Icelandic staging grounds. I expect we'll get a few reports as the weeks go on though, from bitter experience, the fieldwork days are very long and there isn't much time for typing on a computer!

Staging Brent - Take 2...

Numbers of birds left in Ireland continue to dwindle. As usual, those left tend to be family groups, presumably being held back by a juvenile not quite ready for the long journeys ahead.
Yesterday, at Dundrum Inner Bay, County Down, numbers were further reduced from the 60 or so which had held for about a week, down to 22. Amongst them were old favourites, F6WW and LUWW, with their newly ringed juvenile, UHBY, which has an unringed sibling. Target for the catch on 28 March 2015 at Dundrum had been these old WW rings, which were mainly ringed in the period 2006 - 2008, many of which are now showing their age, and are getting difficult to read in the field. The recent catch resulted in 7 such birds being provided with new rings, together with another old Icelandic ringed bird. As the plastic rings deteriorate with age, it is vital that a programme of catches aimed at ring replacement be maintained.
The only other report of any sort of numbers over the past couple of days has been from Tony Gallagher, of 25 at Keadue Strand, County Donegal, on 30 April. We would be keen to know details of any other flocks which have yet to make a move.
It was with some surprise that I was contacted on 30 April by Ciaran Hatsell, Senior Assistant Warden at the Fair Isle Bird Observatory, Shetland, reporting that P2WR had paid a visit, and had probably been there since 25 April. This was our first ever record of a ringed bird from Shetland, and Ciaran tells me it is their first brent goose record on Fair Isle since 2010!!
They say lightning never strikes twice, so it was a double surprise when I was contacted yesterday, 01 May, by Dave Okill from the Shetland Ringing Group, to say he had found another brent goose at Sullam Voe, Mainland Shetland and that it was ringed too!! In this case the bird was PSRB, one of the birds we ringed on the breeding grounds on Axel Heiberg Island in High Arctic Canada last summer.
Both these birds are considerably off the direct route to Iceland, so it will be very much of interest to see whether they manage to rejoin the rest of the flyway population. Watch this space!!

Staging Brent...

News tonight, of our first re-sighting this spring from one of the Scottish Islands. This time it is from South Uist, where John Kemp has recorded Z3RY in a flock of 13 at Belgarva on saltmarsh.
The low number of records from the Scottish Islands this spring perhaps reflects the settled and clear weather conditions. Often records from there are associated with fog, or the sudden onset of poor weather.
Large numbers of birds were observed departing, rising to high level yesterday (20th), heading north from North Bull, Dublin, by Cian Merne and Pat Watson.
Several records have also already been received from Iceland, from Oli Torfason, and movements of over-wintering Dublin birds have recently been recorded from the East Coast of Ireland south of the border by several observers.
North of the border, Killough Harbour's habitual increased numbers at this point in the season continue previous winter's observations of staging birds passing through this site. IJRR, which had previously been a regular in Normandy, France, has recently been recorded from there by David Nixon, Chris Murphy and myself.
Juvenile U3WR, ringed on Strangford Lough in the autumn, had also wintered in Normandy, France, but has more recently been observed in Pembrokeshire by Rosemary Royle and Derek Grimwood
A team of ring-readers, including myself, hope to check for ringed birds on the west coast of Iceland in early May.