TIMMERMAN A (1962) On the occurrence of the Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis in the Netherlands. LIMOSA 35 (3): 199-218.

The Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis was originally a scarce winter-visitor in ZuidHolland and Zeeland, seldom seen inland, but sometimes observed migrating along the North Sea coast Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis Chapter A, deals with the resting places from before the 1950's. The maximum seasonal numbers from 1917 onwards are shown in the Tables 1-8, each resting place being given separately. The old wintering areas in Zuid-Holland and Zeeland were, for the most part, lost as a result of the measures taken after the great flooding in 1953. The Barnacle Goose appeared in large numbers only in severe winters. In Chapter B, the known resting places after 1950 are treated in detail. At present, the Barnacle Goose concentrates in the south of the Netherlands in the HollandschdiepHaringvliet area in Zuid-Holland. In the north of Friesland, in addition, an important resting place has been created since the reclamation of the Bantpolder, so that there are now two chief resting places in our country. Furthermore, the Barnacle Goose appears, at the moment, in ever increasing numbers on the resting places of other geese. In the Tables, the maximum number of birds seen per season per resting place is recorded. In this country, as elsewhere (see Harrison, 1952), the Barnacle Goose has a definite preference for collisionareas of salt and freshwater, or relicts of these. The vegetation there belongs to the Agropyro-Rumicion crispi. In the north of the Netherlands the Barnacle geese sleep on the shallow sandbanks in the Wadden Sea. In the south of the country, on similar banks in the Hellegat, the Haringvliet and the Scheelhoekbank. On moonlight nights the geese sleep also on the feeding grounds. The figure on p. 213 surveys the appearance and disappearance of the Barnacle Goose in the Netherlands. Al the end of Chapter 4, under E, is a table showing the maximum numbers of birds seen on one day from 1917-1961. It would appear that between a half and two-thirds of the world population of this bird winters in the Netherlands. Although shooting is forbidden and a few feeding places are within duck-decoy areas, the two largest resting places are severely threatened and it is essential that new terrains should be claimed in the Delta area and Lauwers Sea areas, as wintering places for the Barnacle Goose of North-East Europe.

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