Note concernant les oies sauvages au littoral Belge

• Main Author: Lippens, L.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: French
• Published: 1951
• Subjects: Geese; ANE; Belgium; Belgian Coast; Zwin; Het Zwin natuurreservaat; Knokke; brent geese
• Online Access: https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/239771.pdf

The author who has been observing and shooting geese on the Belgian coast near the estuary of the Scheldt, during more than twenty years, kept careful records of his observations. His conclusions are:1. The number of greylag and beangeese seen in this area did not change.2. The number of pink-feet remained more or less static, but during the last six years there is a notable decrease compared with the years between 1930 and 1940.3. The number of white-fronted geese increased tremendously. Between 1928 and 1933 not a single one was shot. After 1933 a fewwere seen and the first real invasion took place in the severe winter of 1939-1940. Since 1944 the white fronted became far the commonest goose in this area.4. Barnacle geese appear only when the winter is severe. They do not seem to diminish in number.5. Brent geese were common in cold winters in the past. A huge invasion took place in 1937 after a heavy snowfall in the North. Since about ten years the brent disappeared completely. Not a single one has been seen since 1942, not even during the very severe frost in 1946-1947.