The 2014 Canada Goose Round Up!

Various LRG members taking instructions from The Boss.

On Saturday 29 June, we held our annual Canada Goose roundup, though a week ago it looked very doubtful, with Aberfan Canoe Club unable to help this year. However, friends in the Brecon, Glasbury and Wye Dean clubs, together with a handful of our "regular" canoeists, ensured a flotilla of about 15 canoes to bring the geese ashore. Goose numbers have fallen in recent years (as some have decided to moult at nearby Talybont Reservoir), but a herd of 347 kept everyone busy for a couple of hours.

After much coxing (quite a bit more than usual) the geese went through the weed, onto the bank.......

A good turnout by LRGp members (and friends), and a contingent of ringers from Dorset, ensured a slick event. The pen was loaned by Chew Valley Ringing Station (as usual), and was brought over by Alan Ashman, Ron Clevely and Bob Webber. Weather conditions were as "near perfect" as we could have wished for - warm, with some cloud cover and a light breeze. Four of the 347 birds escaped, and five were released (when the rings ran out) - 2 adult, 2 juvenile and a Cango/Grego hybrid. A total of 189 adult and 7 juvenile were ringed, and 142 more already had rings from previous years. Every bird was originally ringed at the Lake, the 3 oldest were ringed in 2003, 2004 and 2005. With, at least, the 2004 bird having not been caught at all in the years in between! However, rivaling that as the most impressive statistic of the day was that this years catch took us past 4,000 Canada Geese ringed at the lake. An impressive effort in my opinion!

.....and into the pen!

The number of Canada Geese moulting at Llangorse lake gradually built up over the years until it peaked from 2004-2009 when the total catch for the round up was around 500 to 550 birds every year. In 2010 there was a sharp decline in the moulting flock to a total of only 366 birds, this has stayed relatively constant since then. It's easy to speculate that the emergence of a new moulting flock of around 150 birds at Talybont Reservoir accounts for this loss of birds and this seems to be the likely explanation, although a note of caution must be added, as we are yet to prove this with a round up there or from retrap data.

Credits on the day go to the landowner Clive Jones, the canoeists - Peter & Margaret Slater, Carl & Sian Barnes, Steph Coates, Rob & Non Dingle, Simon Ford, David Hope, Annie Gorton-Hardy, Tony & Eli Greenacre & family, Emily Knell-Davis, Nigel, Carwen & Iwan Lavis, Oliver MacIver, Joanne Maurice, Petra Mitchard, Andy Shan and Barbara St Aubyn.

In the pen were George Ashwell and Peter Jenkins, the scribes were Sue Parkinson and Jerry Lewis, and weighing the birds were Alan Ashmen and Bob Webber. The ringers were Helen Ackerman, Paul Ackerman, Tony Ashcroft, Matthew Ashman, Adrian Bayley, Ron Clevely, Terry Coombs, Carola Dallmeier, Amy Davies, Denise Foster, Tony Greenacre, Guy Hayden, Serena Hughes, Andrew King, Cheryl King, David Lee, Leanne Palmer, Doug Rudge, Oliver MacIver, Petra Mitchard, Carlton Parry, Jeremy Richards, Stephanie Tyler and Daniel Webb

The toughest job of the day!