Inland feeding by brent geese branta bernicla in Sussex,England |
| |
| Authors: | Philip Round |
| |
| Institution: | The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire SG19 2DL, Great Britain |
| |
| Abstract: | The numbers and pattern of distribution of dark-bellied brent geese Branta b. bernicla feeding inland around Chichester and Pagham Harbours, West Sussex in winter 1979/80 are described.A maximum of 11,000 birds fed inland. Taking the winter as a whole, 70% fed within 200 m of the coast. 68% of inland-feeding birds occurred on grass. This was partly influenced by deliberate scaring of the geese from cereals. 14% of the available area of grass around Chichester was used by geese but only 6% was heavily grazed. Of the area of cereals, 13% was used with 4% heavily grazed.Unless disturbed, the brent geese usually remained inland for most of the day, regardless of the state of the tide, returning to roost overnight on intertidal areas. The more uniformly distributed food supply in fields enabled the geese to feed in larger, more compact flocks than they could do on the estuary.The provision of grassland refuges is suggested as a means of alleviating conflict with agriculture. For Chichester Harbour up to five refuge areas may be required where the geese can feed undisturbed. Each refuge should not only provide the food requirements of the geese but be large enough to provide a buffer against human disturbance on surrounding land. The total refuge area should probably be not less than about 400 ha, on which many of the normal farming practices can continue. Refuges should be situated adjacent to the coast and the grass sward needs to be closely grazed by livestock or mown in the summer to provide a suitable short sward for the wintering geese. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
