DUBBELDAM W (1978) The Greylag Goose Anser anser in Flevoland in 1972 - 1975. LIMOSA 51 (1): 6-30.

In Zuidelijk Flevoland large lake and marsh areas developed after the polder was reclaimed in 1968. An area in the northern part of the polder wil not be cultivated and will be maintained as nature reserve. This and the adjacent areas in Oostelijk and Zuidelijk Flevoland form an important haunt for the Greylag Goose Anser anser (Fig. I.). The numbers of Greylag Geese are given in Fig. 2. In autumn the numbers gradually increase during September and October to about 25,000 in November. From counts in Flevoland and in the Marismas of the Guadalquivir-delta in Spain in mid-November 1973 it can be concluded that the autumn population of continental Northwestern Europe amounts to at least 50,000 birds. Depending on the weather conditions some hundreds to 6,000 geese winter in the marshes of Zuidelijk Flevoland. During spring numbers rise again to a maximum of 12,000. The agricultural area is the main feeding area during September and October; the marshes from November until April (Fig. 2 and 3). The geese spend the night in the marshes during the whole period. The flying distance between the roost and the feeding places in the agricultural area averages between two and five kilometers; the maximum distance exceeds mostly not 10 kilometers. In autumn the main food in the cultivated area consists of wasted cereal grains and cereal volunteer seedlings on stubble-fields (oats, spring barley and winter wheat) and barley volunteer seedlings on winterrape-fields (Fig. 4 and Taole I). During spring grasses and young winter wheat are the dominant food in the agricultural area(Fig. 5 and Table I). The food in the marsh consists mainly of roots of Reed-mace Typha latifolia and blades of Common Reed Phiagmites australis (Table 2). Feeding on roots of Reed-mace has not been mentioned in literature and might be considered to be a new feeding habit of the Greylag Goose. The marshes of Zuidelijk Flevoland form an important moulting place, probably at the expense of the number of geese at an other Dutch moulting place (Ventjagersplaten) (Table 3). In 1973 and 1974 at least 1,100 and 2,000 moulting geese were present. The moulting period is from midMay to mid-July. The main food of the moulting geese consists ofreed-blades. In 1973 and 1974 at least fourteen and ten pairs of breeding Greylag Geese were recorded. The number of breeding pairs may tentatively be estimated at some tens. Goslings were seen feeding on Water Whorl-Grass Catabrosa aquatica and young reed plants. Greylag Goose Anser anser

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