Top Goose
Geese make extraordinary migrations from the UK to the top of the world. They must fly thousands of miles to reach their summer breeding grounds in the Arctic but along the way they must also overcome one of nature's great obstacles - the Greenland ice cap that towers a mile and a half (2,700m) above sea level.
How do these birds know how much food they need to eat to fuel such incredible journeys? Top Goose is a project we have launched with the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) to investigate this phenomenon and now you can hear Brett with Larry Griffin of the WWT as they prepare to catch and tag some of our Top Goose geese in Caerlaverock.
Listen to Brett and Larry Griffin of the WWT in Caerlaveroch as they try to catch and tag a goose
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How do they decide when they have enough fuel to start their marathon
flight? What if they hit extreme weather or are blown off course? What
if they don’t have enough fuel to reach their destination?
World On the Move has teamed up with the WWT in a
research first. Over the next year, we will follow 3 individual
Greenland White-fronted geese, 3 Brent geese and 3 Barnacle
geese as they make these epic journeys and compare how much fuel they
need to complete them. Only then will we know how vital it is to manage and protect their feeding grounds and help them adapt to a changing climate.
Which one will get there first? Will they all make it?
Further Reading:
Next report: How do geese cope with oxygen deprivation at such high altitudes?
Current locations of all the geese at the official Top Goose website
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