THE local population of Svalbard barnacle geese is recovering well after the devastating effects of Avian Influenza (AI) over the last two years.
Each year approximately 40,000 barnacle geese spend their winters on the Solway estuary near WWT Caerlaverock because of the food available, safe roosting sites and offer of better weather than Norway.
In November 2021, the WWT staff began to notice dead barnacle geese on the reserve and after testing, discovered it was AI. This was the first site to record a Svalbard barnacle goose death from AI.
By the end of the 2021/22 winter, over 1000 dead geese were counted at WWT Caerlaverock and the population of Svalbard barnacle geese had dropped by about 30 per cent to under 28,000.
Now on the cusp of the third winter, the barnacle geese have had two of their most successful breeding seasons ever and their population has almost recovered to its pre-AI level.
WWT Caerlaverock staff wait in anticipation for the first geese to arrive. There is hope that a third successful breeding season will have brought the population higher than its pre-AI level.
Site manager David Pickett said: “That winter of bird flu in the geese was pretty tough but it is amazing how nature can recover and it is so good to see large numbers of these striking geese back around the Solway.”
