White-fronts at West Freugh - 4.iii.24

 Despite tricky conditions, I finally caught up with some of the Greenland White-fronted Geese that winter around the airfield, after several failed attempts in recent weeks. It was mercifully dry with sunny spells but a very strong and bitterly cold south-easterly wind made things decidedly uncomfortable outside the car. My afternoon visit began as usual at the flooded fields north-east of the runways. A pair of Shelduck and a small flock of Golden Plover were present. Nearby I found a flock of Pink-footed Geese, the first of many. These latter birds were very flighty, disturbed no doubt by all the muck-spreading that was going on. Tractors pulling trailers of slurry buzzed about constantly as they spread their toxic sludge over the fields. At times the air was full of skeins making their distinctive ang-ank calls. A rough estimate came to 5,000, but no sign of White-fronts among them. Local experts say the two species tend not to flock together, in this area at least. I checked diligently through every grounded group I came across but nothing other than Pink-feet.

Eventually, I happened upon B.H. parked up along the western side and my hopes rose. He keeps a close eye on the geese here every winter and sure enough he had the White-fronts in sight. They were in a distant dip of the land, barely discernible to the naked eye against the muddy ground on which they were grubbing about, a sub-optimal feeding place for them. Brian reckoned the muck-spreading had put them off their usual preferred grazing locations. Even with the scope, viewing was far from ideal with too much wind-shake of my tripod (upgrade required!), but the white blaze at the bill-base stood out clearly enough to identify.

This group of about 70 birds represented half the local flock apparently; the whereabouts of the other half that day being unknown. Numbers have declined dramatically over recent decades, especially juveniles, and the species is classified as Endangered. This winter only adults have been seen here, which suggests a very poor breeding season last year in the arctic. It is thought that warmer springs, due to anthropogenic climate change, cause increased snowfall at their western Greenland nesting and feeding grounds. Such counter-intuitive and cruelly ironic circumstances result in fewer chicks surviving and many pairs of geese choosing not to breed at all.

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