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page.Brent Goose
Branta bernicla
The brent goose inhabits the tundras of northern Asia and North America; in Europe it breeds only on islands off the north coast of Russia. It is a sea and coastal bird. In Europe it winters chiefly on the coast of Denmark and West Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, England and Ireland. It returns to its breeding grounds in the first half of June, whereupon it immediately sets about preparing its nest - a hollow, not very deep, lined with vegetation and down. The brent goose nests in small colonies in dry, elevated places. In June the female lays three to six, sometimes eight eggs, which she incubates by herself for 24 to 26 days. It is interesting to note that the males abandon their families very early to form small flocks of their own sex. The complete summer moult begins in mid-July, the new flight feathers being fully grown-in between about the lOth and l5th of August. At this time the young are also already able to fly but have not as yet acquired their full plumage. In winter the brent goose feeds on marine vegetation, in summer on grass, lichens, moss and the like, as well as crustaceans, molluscs, aquatic insects and their larvae, and other invertebrates. The brent goose is now becoming increasingly scarce. Up to about 1930 some ten thousand of these birds wintered in Holland alone, whereas since 1953 their number has barely totalled one thousand, the same being true in other wintering grounds.
Click on any of the other bird links, these are Geese Barnacle Goose : Brent Goose : Canada Goose : Greylag Goose
Or on the Ducks: Gadwall : Goldeneye : Goosander : Mallard : Pintail Pochard : Red Breasted Merganser
Red Crested Pochard : Shellduck : Shoveler : Teal : Tufted Duck : Wigeon
And the rest, in no real order of importance: Common Sandpiper : Coot. : Corncrake : Curlew. : Dunlin : Greenshank : Lapwing : Moorhen : Oystercatcher : Redshank : Ringed Plover : Snipe : Spotted Crake : Stone Curlew : Turnstone : Whimbrel : Woodcock.
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