The Wildfowl Trust
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THE SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE WILDFOWL TRUST I953-I954 EDITED BY PETER SCOTT AND HUGH BOYD Published for the Wildfowl Trust by COUNTRY LIFE LIMITED 2-10 Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, London, W.C.2 1955 THE WILDFOWL TRUST SLIMBRIDGE . GLOUCESTERSHIRE Tel. : CAMBRIDGE ( g l o s ) 333 Station : COALEY j u n c t i o n Patron - HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN President Field-Marshal the Rt Hon. the Viscount Alanbrooke, K.G., G.C.B., O.M., G.C.V.O., D.S.O. Vice-Presidents The Rt Hon. the Lord Dulverton of Batsford, O.B.E., M.A., J.P. Sir Percy Lister Trustees The Rt Hon. the Lord Kennet of the Dene, G.B.E., D.S.O., D.S.C. His Grace the Duke of Beaufort, K.G., P.C., G.C.V.O. Hon. Treasurer Guy Benson Hon. Director Peter Scott, C.B.E., D.S.C. Asst. Director (Research) Dr G. V. T. Matthews Council Capt. R. G. W. Berkeley Michael Bratby Dr Richard Clarke, O.B.E., F.R.C.P. R. A. H. Coombes Michael Crichton H. H. Davis Harley C. Drayton James Fisher K. Miller Jones James Robertson Justice Miss P. Talbot-Ponsonby Sir Landsborough Thomson, C.B., O.B.E., D.Sc. Major-General C. B. Wainwright, C.B. H. F. B. Fox, O.B.E. (Ministry o f Education Assessor) Secretary E. A. Scholes Organising Secretary Miss E. R. Gregorson Curator S. T. Johnstone Central Organiser G. L. Atkinson-Willes Wildfowl Counts Resident Biologist Hugh Boyd Agent Col M. Berkeley Scientific Advisory Committee Sir Landsborough Thomson, C.B., O.B.E., (Chairman) Prof. F. Blakemore Prof. H. G. Callan Dr Bruce Campbell Dr James W. Campbell, M.B.E. Dr F. Fraser Darling, F.R.S.E. *Jean Delacour Prof. W. H. Eider Dr D. J. Finney Prof. Sir Ronald A. Fisher, F.R.S. Prof. Harold Munro Fox, F.R.S. Prof. John E. Harris Dr Jeffrey G. Harrison Prof. H. R. Hewer Dr Edward Hindle, F.R.S. * Albert Hochbaum R. C. Homes Prof. Julian Huxley, F.R.S. *Dr David Lack, F.R.S. Dr G. Lapage R. M. Lockley *Prof. Konrad Lorenz Sir Philip Manson-Bahr, C.M.G., D.S.O., F.R.C.P. Dr G. V. T. Matthews (Secretary) Dr L. Harrison Matthews, F.R.S. *Dr Dillon Ripley H. N. Southern *Prof. G. A. Swanson Dr W. H. Thorpe, F.R.S. Dr N. Tinbergen J. A. J. Venn, M.R.C.V.S. Prof. C. H. Waddington, F.R.S. Prof. V. C. Wynne-Edwards, F.R.S.E. G. K. Yeates * Corresponding Members PHOTOGRAPHS The Trust is greatly indebted to the following for permission to reproduce the photographs they have taken : J. V. Beer Peter Scott Essex County Standard C. Sellick D. Farrell Dr W. J. L. Sladen P. Glasier Miss P. Talbot-Ponsonby H. J. Goodhart R. Webbe Lehnert & Landrock F. Williams Nowell Peach, F.R.C.S. G. K. Yeates Royal Air Force CONTENTS R eport 7 W ild Geese at the New Grounds 13: G r e y Lag Goose 13 European White-fronted Goose (with notes on recoveries of ringed birds) 13 Lesser White-fronted Goose 18 Bean Goose 18 Pink-footed Goose 18 Dark-bellied Brent Goose 19 Barnacle Goose 19 Red-breasted Goose 19 W ild Ducks 20 Berkeley New Decoy 20 Borough Fen Decoy 20 Recoveries of Ducks 20 A bberton R in g in g Station, by C. B. Wainwright 25 W ildfow l Counts in the British Isles, by George Atkinson-Willes 29 Regional Organisers 31 W inter Counts of M allard in Britain, 1951-54, by George Atkinson-Willes 39 T he D u c k A d o ptio n Scheme 46 W aterfow l Collection 47 The Present Status of the Ne-ne or Hawaiian Goose 47 The Breeding Season, 1954, by S. T. Johnstone 51 Pathological Investigations, by J. A. J. Venn 55 R ocket-N etting in 1953 an d 1954 56 R ecoveries of G eese 59 Metal Swedging in Rings 61 T h e W il d f o w l T r u s t ’s S e c o n d E x p e d it io n t o C e n t r a l I c e l a n d , 1953, by Peter Scott, Hugh Boyd and W. J. L. Sladen 63 Plants of the ÍDjórsárver við Hofsjökul 93 T he British P o pu la tio n of the P in k -footed G oose, I ts N umbers a n d A n n u a l L osses, by Hugh Boyd and Peter Scott 99 T he R ole of T ra d itio n in D eterm ining the W in ter D istribution of P inkfeet in Br ita in , by Hugh Boyd 107 F luoroscopic M easures of Sh oo tin g P ressure on P in k -footed a n d G rey L ag G eese, by William H. Elder 123 T he R elation of A ge a n d Sex to the W eights of P in k -footed a nd G rey L ag G eese, by William H. Elder 127 T h e M y c o f l o r a o f W il d P in k -f o o t e d G eese S a m p l e d i n I c e l a n d a n d S c o t l a n d , 1953, by W. J. L. Sladen and P. K. C. Austwick 133 A spergillosis in W il d G eese : A N e w T e c h n iq u e f o r it s D e t e c t io n 138 T h e D is c o v e r y o f P in k -f o o t e d G eese N e s t in g in I c e l a n d , 1929 : Extracts from the diaries of S. W.P. Freme 139 A V is it t o K r o s s a r g il , N o r t h - c e n t r a l I c e l a n d 1954, w it h S p e c ia l R e f e r e n c e t o t h e P in k -f o o t e d G o o se , by G. K. Yeates 146 O bservations o n G a t h e r in g a n d D e p a r t u r e o f P in k -f o o t e d G eese a t A s g a r ö in C e n t r a l I c e l a n d , by N. G. Blurton Jones and Robert Gillmor 153 G o o se -r in g in g i n V e s t -spitsbergen 1954, by James Goodhart, Russell Webbe and Thomas Wright 170 W il d f o w l a n d t h e P r o t e c t io n o f B ir d s A c t , 1954 177 N i n t h I nternational C o n f e r e n c e o f t h e I nternational C o m m it t e e f o r B ir d P reservation 181 The Numbers of Brent Geese in Europe 181 Oil Pollution of the Sea 183 Wildfowl Habitats in Ireland 184 T h e R o y a l A ir F o r c e B o m b in g R a n g e o n t h e K n e c h t s a n d , N .W . G e r m a n y , a n d it s E f f e c t s o n M o u l t in g S h e l d u c k s 184 G e n e r a l A c t iv it ie s a n d A dministration 186 V is it o r s t o t h e N e w G r o u n d s 186 D ir e c t o r ’s L e c t u r e s 186 S e v e n t h A n n u a l G e n e r a l M e e t in g 187 B a l a n c e S h e e t 188 A n n u a l D in n e r 192 P h o t o g r a p h s 193 M e m b e r s h ip 217 O b it u a r y 218 L is t o f M e m b e r s 219 REPORT In the course of the year under review the Trust undertook a number of new commitments. These arose from a general reorganisation of the activities of the various bodies dealing with research on wildfowl, which was designed to avoid overlapping and duplication. The new commitments included responsi bility for the National Wildfowl Counts—a network of 700 observers who count the wildfowl on selected waters monthly on a prearranged date, and the administration of the highly successful ringing station at Abberton Reservoir in Essex, as well as other ringing stations where ducks are caught.