Project Profiles - Ireland

Conservation of a Trans-Atlantic Migrant
by Simon Delany, Wetlands International and James Orr, The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust

Editor's note: Branta bernicla, known in North America as brant, is known in Old World literature as brent goose.

Arctic Canada is home to four breeding populations of brent geese. The two western populations migrate west and south to winter on the Pacific Coast. Light-bellied brent geese nesting around the Foxe Basin in the eastern low arctic migrate south to winter on the United States' Atlantic Coast. About 20,000 light-bellied brent that breed in the eastern high Arctic between the eastern Queen Elizabeth Islands and northern Ellesmere Island undertake a remarkable 3,000 mile trans-Atlantic migration and winter almost exclusively on the island of Ireland.

After the breeding season, these geese migrate across the Greenland ice cap to stage at about 15 sites on the west coast of Iceland. These sites are also used during spring migration in May. The main arrival in Ireland is in late September and early October, and Strangford Lough in the United Kingdom (UK) province of Northern Ireland is the key site.

Lying just 10 miles from Belfast, this scenic, 30-mile-long sea lough is home to the bulk of this goose population for 6 to 8 weeks each autumn. Nearly 18,000 brent were counted at Strangford in September 2000, the highest number ever recorded. From November onwards, the eelgrass zostera, which forms their preferred winter diet, becomes depleted at Strangford, and birds disperse around the Irish Coast to about 180 sites.

Zostera depletion can occur at any of the birds' wintering sites, and as winter progresses, more and more brent are found feeding inland on agricultural crops, playing fields, and golf courses. This has caused some conflict with human uses, especially around the city of Dublin.

Hunting of brent has been banned in Ireland for nearly 50 years, but other threats remain. Strangford Lough currently has no overall management plan or zoning strategy. The proximity of this crucial site to the city of Belfast puts it under heavy recreational pressure, and in autumn, newly arrived geese are subject to disturbance from a variety of activities. Public awareness has increased dramatically over the past few years thanks to the efforts of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust and National Trust. An ambitious community arts programme—the Brent Wildlife Festival—has generated enthusiastic political and public support. Street carnivals, poetry competitions, beacons, and public sculpture are now organised to celebrate the arrival of the brent each September.

Improved public awareness is good for the geese, and more formal conservation measures also have been adopted. The Irish and UK Governments have a special responsibility to conserve this population, and a Flyway Management Plan to cover all range states of the population will be developed. A research programme to investigate the reasons behind the generally low breeding productivity of this population also has been established.

Polar Bear Pass on Bathurst Island has been identified as an important pre-laying springtime staging area, and a little-known agreement among the Canadian, Irish, and UK government conservation agencies in 1989 twinned this Canadian site with critical Irish sites. Perhaps, this agreement is due for a revisit.

For more information, contact Simon Delany, Wetlands International - Africa, Europe, Middle East, Droevendaalsesteeg 3A, PO Box 7002, 6700 CA Wageningen, The Netherlands, + 31 317 478863, delany@wetlands.agro.nl, or James Orr, The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, Castle Espie, Ballydrain Road, Comber, Co Down BT25 6EA, Northern Ireland, +028 9187 4146, james.orr@wwt.org.uk.