Only one GWF satellite tagged bird remains.
Going Going Gone !
The Greenland White-fronted Geese have packed their bags and left! The flocks have eaten their final meals of fresh spring grass and, having fattened up to their satisfaction and following the cues of good weather, favourable winds, good body condition and the need to get to the breeding grounds in west Greenland and nab the best places, they have set off. Only a handful of Johnny and Jenny Go Latelys are still around and even they will not be for long.
At the latest count there were over 9,500 feeding on the spring grass and fattening up for their return trip to Greenland in time for the spring thaw. The White-fronts and over 3,000 of the darker Brent geese were busy topping up on the fresh green shoots before leaving. The goose count is highest at this time of year shortly before they leave. Unlike the White-fronts, the Brents are off to Arctic Canada.
The geese usually leave at the end of March or early April when they have fattened up for the hard flight and when winds are favourable. It is an 18 hour marathon -and that's just to the half-way stopping point in Iceland- for birds who cannot glide or soar but must flap their wings all the way there, an impressive display of muscle power.
Having rested and fattened up again in Iceland (the first arrived on Saturday 24th March), they set off on the second leg, to Greenland. That flight is as long as the first leg, and the final part of it is over the 3,000 metre (nearly 2 miles) thick ice sheet that covers most of Greenland. After all that, it will be time for many pairs to start raising a new family.
By now we will have seen the last of them before they return in the Autumn, many trailing this summer's brood after them to their first Irish Winter.
2010 was a great breeding season for White-fronts after a few slow years, read all about it
New Sightings
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Wexford Wildfowl Reserve
Wexford Harbour and its Slobs, by their location and geomorphological structure, are natural havens for birds. Situated on the south-east coast of Ireland, they are the closest point for birds migrating into or out of Ireland from Britain and the Continent from a southerly direction.
Waders and wildfowl in particular are attracted to the area where the flat landscape and the wide shallow harbour with its sandbars and mud banks provide safe areas to feed, loaf, roost and breed.
Wexford Harbour opening to the Irish Sea to the east, is partially protected by Rosslare Point to the south, the Raven sand dune system to the north and the Fort and adjacent sandbars in the middle. From the west, the harbour is fed by the meandering River Slaney which, in its lower reaches, is tidal.
The Slob lands were reclaimed from the sea in the 1840's, with the building of the sea wall and the pumphouse. For more information on the history of the area please visit our history section.
From early October through to the middle of April, the North and South Slobs and the Harbour are home to thousands of ducks, geese, swans and waders making this a site of major international importance for wildfowl and waders. In addition, during spring and autumn, large numbers of birds on migration stop to feed in these rich areas.