Pink-footed Geese at Read's Island by Graham Catley

A casual observation from the South Ferriby to Scunthorpe road today, November 1st 2001, revealed a flock of what I estimated at 40mph to be about 2000 Pink-feet feeding on a worked field that had been sugar beet. As the birds were showing so well I returned with scope and camera in the late afternoon and was able to watch them at close range until dark. After five different counts I was at last convinced that my 2000 was in fact a flock of 3790 Pink-footed Geese, another 20 arrived later making a grand total of 3810. Pink-feet have had a very chequered history on the Humber from the time in the 1930's and 40's when the bulk of the Icelandic population was considered to winter on the Humber roosting on Redcliffe middle sand and flighting by day to feed on the Wolds and throughout North Lincolnshire. An estimate of 15000 birds in the winter of 1959-60, from the Humber Wildfowl Refuge (always wrongly sited due to politics), was the last huge count from the estuary with numbers falling to 2-3000 during the 1970's. The catastrophic poisoning of a large percentage of the Humber flock in early 1975 was the last straw in the decline of the estuary population which never topped a high of 1630 noted in the 1980-81 winter.

During the 1990's the winter peaks reached 1165 in 1991-92 but then fell to about 650 in the next three winters before the present increase commenced with 1360 in 1995-96, 1500 1996-97, 1200 1997-98, 1530 1998-99, 2410 1999-2000 and 2700 2000-01. Only one count in excess of today's figure has been recorded on the Humber since the winter of 1961-62 and that was a one off count of 4931 in October 1969. Along with today's flock was a single Barnacle Goose but last winter produced records of two different first-winter Greenland White-fronts and in several recent winters small parties of European White-fronts and Bean Geese have joined the flock around Christmas time into the new year. We may well be due for a real Snow Goose or a small Canada with the flock and if it continues to increase the chances are greater. The flock is however, already causing consternation amongst local farmers and I understand that 37 birds have been shot in the last ten days.

Geese Records from Read's Island Area. (Link to map of Area - www.multimap.com)

1993/1994 Bean Goose 6 January 1st with 8 on 14th ------European White-fronted Goose 8 January 1st with a maximum of 24 January 14th -------Barnacle Goose 6 January 1st

1995-96 Dark-bellied Brent Goose 1 November 5th -----Bean Goose 3 February 4-10th with 8 rossicus 11th 2 rossicus February 10-March 16th ----European White-fronted Goose 11 February 4th , 3 adult March 5-16th ------Barnacle Goose 1 January 23rd to February 4th

1996-97 Bean Goose 7 December 26th 8 rossicus January 12-14th, ----European White-fronted Goose 3 adult December 26th 2 January 8th, 1 14th iw February 1st, 4 8th --------Barnacle Goose 5 November 22nd -----Dark-bellied Brent 3 November 25th

1997-98 European White-fronted Goose 3 December 26th-February 8th ---Barnacle Goose 1 January 21-February 8th

1998-99 European White-fronted Goose 5 October 11th-25th ----Pale-bellied Brent Goose 1 adult December 6th-27th

1999-2000 Bean Goose November 28th-January 4th -----European White-fronted Goose 5 November 23rd 7 28th 5 December 7th, 3 January 4th ------Barnacle Goose 1 adult October 8-11th

2000-2001 Greenland White-fronted Goose adult October 8-26th, iw January 24-28th

Graham Catley (Second page of pictures) (Pink-footed Goose Marston April 2002)

Pink-footed Geese, Winteringham 1st November 2001 © Graham Catley (Nikon Coolpix and Scope)

Pink-footed Geese, Winteringham 1st November 2001 © Graham Catley (Nikon Coolpix and Scope)

Pink-footed Geese, Winteringham 1st November 2001 © Graham Catley (Nikon Coolpix and Scope)

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