Foreign Visitors with a Difference!

Students and staff were treated to a rare and wonderful sight last week. Thousands of Pale Bellied Brent Geese took up temporary residence on the playing field, much to the delight and awe of the students. Several times, the geese left but returned shortly afterwards.

Pale-bellied Brent geese breed mostly in Canada and Greenland and spend the winter in Ireland. They undertake the longest, and probably the most hazardous, migration of any goose species, flying from wintering grounds in Ireland to breeding areas in the tundra in northern Canada. This journey involves a long sea-crossing between Ireland and Iceland and a perilous flight over the Greenland ice-cap. Virtually the whole population arrive in Ireland for the winter, and in Spring, they set out again on their amazing return flight to Arctic Canada The Pale Bellied Brent geese stop over in Iceland where they fatten up, increasing their weight by up to 40 % in preparation for the final 3,000 km flight over frozen Greenland to their breeding grounds in Canada. The majority of the wintering birds will have begun to leave this country by the end of April and most will be gone by May.