Winter movements and site-fidelity of Pink-footed GeeseAnser brachyrhynchusringed in Britain, with particular emphasis on those marked in Lancashire

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Abstract
Census data show that the distribution of Pink footed Geese Anser brachyrhynchus in different parts of their winter range in Britain changes within seasons. Large numbers arrive during October and November in Grampian Region, east-central Scotland, Borders Region, Lothian Region and Lancashire. Numbers peak in England during mid-winter, with few persisting into March, by which time the more sedentary winter populations of south-west Scotland and throughout eastern Scotland have begun to be augmented, presumably through arrivals from further south. Maximum numbers occur in northern Grampian and the Moray Firth from March onwards and peak during April. Individually marked Pink footed Geese captured in Lancashire dispersed to the Ribble Estuary, the south Lancashire Mosses and elsewhere in north-west England. Part of this population moves on to spend mid-winter in Norfolk. In January, there is a conspicuous migration northwards in Britain, with individuals travelling through Fylde, the Solway and east-central Scotland, reaching Grampian and the Moray Firth by mid-March. Recovery and recapture data from ringing in the 1950s suggest that this pattern is long established. We suggest that Pink footed Geese, which feed mainly on grass in spring, are responding to a gradient of plant growth (particularly the high protein content associated with the onset of growth), utilizing the differential occurrence of the 'spring-bite' in northward staging towards their ultimate destination - the breeding areas in Iceland and Greenland.
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