The global population of Greenland White-fronted Geese in spring 2023 comprised 18027 individuals, made up of 7792 in Ireland and 10235 in Britain. This was coincidentally unchanged compared to the same total counted the previous spring. Numbers here in Wexford remained little changed at 5531 (compared to 5361 the previous spring) but counts elsewhere in Ireland continued to fall (2261 compared to 2928 in 2022).
Among Irish wintering geese, the percentage young among aged flocks after the 2022 breeding season was an extraordinarily low 2.5% compared to 5.6% last season. Mean brood size among the Irish flocks was low but slightly up on 2.2 last season. There were 2.1% young among 4030 aged at Wexford (substantially down on last season’s already very low 4.9% but reflecting a long trend there since the late 1980s). Mean brood size at Wexford was 2.7, based on 28 broods (compared to 2.2 last season). Elsewhere in Ireland, reproductive success was also very low at 8.5% based on a sample of 281), with mean brood size 2.7 (compared to 2.4 last season).
