WINTER MOVEMENTS AND SITE-FIDELITY OF PINK-FOOTED GEESE ANSER-BRACHYRHYNCHUS RINGED IN BRITAIN, WITH PARTICULAR EMPHASIS ON THOSE MARKED INLANCASHIRE

Census data show that the distribution of Pink-footed Geese Anser brac hyrhynchus in different parts of their winter range in Britain changes within seasons. Large numbers arrive during October and November in G rampian Region, east-central Scotland, Borders Region, Lothian Region and Lancashire. Numbers peak in England during mid-winter, with few pe rsisting into March, by which time the more sedentary winter populatio ns of south-west Scotland and throughout eastern Scotland have begun t o be augmented, presumably through arrivals from further south. Maximu m numbers occur in northern Grampian and the Moray Firth from March on wards and peak during April. Individually marked Pink-footed Geese cap tured in Lancashire dispersed to the Ribble Estuary, the south Lancash ire Mosses and elsewhere in north-west England. Part of this populatio n moves on to spend mid-winter in Norfolk. In January, there is a cons picuous migration northwards in Britain, with individuals travelling t hrough Fylde, the Solway and east-central Scotland, reaching Grampian and the Moray Firth by mid-March. Recovery and recapture data from rin ging in the 1950s suggest that this pattern is long established. We su ggest that Pink-footed Geese, which feed mainly on grass in spring, ar e responding to a gradient of plant growth (particularly the high prot ein content associated with the onset of growth), utilizing the differ ential occurrence of the 'spring-bite' in northward staging towards th eir ultimate destination - the breeding areas in Iceland and Greenland .