Top geese: All three BBC Radio 4 Top Goose barnacles make it back to Solway
The last of the three barnacle geese – Thor – arrived back on 31 October with a mate. This is fantastic news after what has been a lengthy journey. Thor has travelled from his unusual summer destination just off the coast of Edgeøya, which is east of Spitsbergen in the Svalbard archipelago. This was the first time WWT has tracked a barnacle goose to this breeding area – most colonies are currently situated on the warmer west coast of Spitsbergen.
This kind of information is vital in terms of the ongoing conservation of these geese, and is exactly what the Top Goose project was set up to do. Launched in February by WWT in collaboration with the BBC Radio 4 series World On the Move and Bristol University, Top Goose is a research first. It was set up to track the three barnacle geese, as well as three Greenland white-fronted geese and three brent geese, and compare how much fuel each needed to complete their migration. It also looked to answer questions like how they cope with extreme weather, and how they decide how much food they need to make such incredible journeys.
DrLarry Griffin, senior research officer at the WWT Caerlaverock, comments: “It was great to see all three of our barnacle geese arrive back safely after migration, particularly as we had lost satellite transmission from Thor. It has been quite a journey for them, especially Thor. In monitoring their activity over the last few months, we have learnt a lot about their migratory patterns. This is vital if we are to conserve this fantastic species.”
