Brent geese Branta bernicla bernicla and their food in the solent, Southern England

Abstract

The Solent, a large estuarine system on the central south coast of England, is an important wintering ground for the dark-bellied brent goose Branta bernicla bernicla: peak winter counts there rose from 300 in 1951–1952 to 23 000 in 1979–1980. Until 1973–1974 the geese remained in the intertidal zone, where they fed on eelgrass Zostera and green algae Enteromorpha and Ulva lactuca. The increase in goose number coincided with the spread of these plants in parts of the Solent. The spread of algae has been linked with increased discharges of sewage. However, only part of the annual production of Zostera and algae is available to geese because of autumn and winter die-back, storm damage and other factors. From 1973 to 1974 geese fed on permanent pasture, playing fields and autumnsown cereals, the last being especially important in 1978–1979 and 1979–1980. The evidence suggests that in some estuaries terrestrial feeding is increasingly attractive even though the intertidal zone could still sustain most of the goose-days spent in the area. The habit appears to be stimulated by large numbers of first winter birds in the population. The geese have evoked great public interest and generated concern for estuarine conservation. However, terrestrial feeding conflicts with farming. Nature conservation organisations have encouraged a policy of scaring from valuable crops by proven methods, whilst seeking to provide alternative terrestrial refuges.