The Greenland White-fronted Goose

Flying Greenland white-fronted geese

Keeping track of a vulnerable sub-species

The Greater White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons breeds more or less continuously around the Arctic from Alaska through mid-continent Canada, in West Greenland and from European Russia to Far East Asia. The discrete population of  the species that summers in west Greenland and winters in Britain and Ireland is the subspecies Anser albifrons flavirostris, which is the most morphologically distinct (being larger and most dark coloured) and most genetically distinct from all the other forms found elsewhere in the world. This is what the fuss is all about!

Individuals from this population are amongst the largest and genetically distinct of any Greater White-fronted Geese anywhere in the world. This makes us think they have been relatively isolated from other forms for very many generations. At the moment, their numbers globally are small, currently numbering just over 18,000 individuals in 2023, having declined rapidly from some 35,600 at peak in 1999.

The Greenland White-fronted Goose summers and nests in west Greenland between Nuuk (64 degrees N) and Upernavik (72 degrees N). In autumn, it migrates to Iceland, where it stops off in the western and southern lowlands from mid-September to mid-November, before wintering in northern and western Scotland, Anglesey and mid-Wales, as well as in western, midland and northern Ireland. The greatest concentrations occur in winter at Wexford Slobs in SE Ireland and on Islay in the Inner Hebrides. The geese again stage during April in southern and western Iceland on migration back to their summering areas in spring.

Both legislation and voluntary agreements are in force. The goose cannot be given international Red List status by IUCN because it is a subspecies however, national governments have their own red and amber listings as shown in the table below. For precise legal protections read more here.

Red and amber list countries for Greenland White-fronted goose

Research and volunteer actions are both key to the conservation of this goose….

Fieldwork across the full range of the GWGS habitat from Greenland to Britain and Ireland contribute greatly to our knowledge…

We rely on anrmy of volunteers to help us report back on breeding success and numbers, especially in the wintering grounds….

A great deal; from magazine articles to scientific journal articles. Find out more using this page as your starting point.

Back in 1977 a group of students at Aberystwyth University started planning an expedition to Greenland to find out more about the local flock of Greenland White-fronted Geese. Find out more.

Goose ecologists spend a lot of time gazing at goose bottoms, but there is a good scientific reason for doing so! Geese store the fat in their bodies that they later need to fuel long migration flights and to invest in laying a clutch of eggs and incubating them on the breeding grounds. Much of this fat is laid down under the skin and around body organs, but many wild goose species accumulate a thick block of fat in their abdomen, just under the tail. In the spring prelude to migration, this accumulation of fat becomes very conspicuous as the abdomen become distended. So much so that you can fairly accurately judge the fat content of a goose’s body from the shape of it’s rear end!

Where do the geese winter in Great Britain?

Zoom in and out below (cookies must be accepted to view). Click on a pin to find out more or use the menu above or the inventory page.

News updates

  • 2022/23 Wintering Report

    2022/23 Wintering Report

    Every year the wintering sites of the Greenland White-fronted Goose in Britain and Ireland are counted and breeding success noted. This work is done mainly by volunteers and the results inform the understanding of what is happening to this vulnerable sub-species. The report for the latest complete winter season is now available on the site…

  • Seen a collared bird?

    Seen a collared bird?

    If you have seen a collared Greenland Whitefronted Goose, most likely at one their wintering grounds in the UK and Ireland then please let us know date and location as well as the collar ID of course. You can use the comment form at the end of this post.

  • In search of Loch Lomond’s White-fronts

    In search of Loch Lomond’s White-fronts

    by Ian Francis & Nicky Penford We’re fortunate in that most Greenland White-front wintering sites have dedicated people living locally who count the birds during the winter as part of our UK and Ireland count network. They do a great job in checking the geese and recording vital parameters. But supplementary information is always useful,…

  • About the Greenland White-fronted Goose

    About the Greenland White-fronted Goose

    The Greenland White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons flavirostris Latest field trip: Greenland 2010 Latest update: Archive video of the first 1979 expedition added, Spring 2010 report, small sites report The Greenland White-fronted Goose, Anser albifrons flavirostris, breeds in west Greenland, and migrates via Iceland to winter in Ireland and Britain. It is the most distinctive race…

  • The Greenland White-fronted Goose Study census network

    The Greenland White-fronted Goose Study census network

    The first description of the numbers and distribution of wintering flocks of Greenland White-fronted Geese in Ireland and Britain was compiled by Major Robin Ruttledge and Malcolm Ogilvie and published in the 1979 volume of Irish Birds. For most Irish flocks, often wintering in remote bogland habitats, there were no regular counts to give a…

  • Broubster Leans SSSI becomes RSPBs latest reserve acquisition

    Broubster Leans SSSI becomes RSPBs latest reserve acquisition

    Broubster Leans SSSI has just become the lastet reserve to be acquired by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, adding another layer of site sfaeguard to this important wetland and the most regularly used roost site for the Westfield flock of Caithness wintering Greenland White-fronted Geese. The press release reads:

  • Greenland white-fronts – alive and well in Africa

    Greenland white-fronts – alive and well in Africa

    There are those occasional days that make up for all the rest. Today was one of the former.I’d been invited to the launch of World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) in northern Kenya – immediately prior to the international avian influenza symposium I’m attending in Nairobi. All I knew was that we would be taken there…

  • An Icelandic evening

    An Icelandic evening

    High on a lonely hill in the late afternoon and deep calls drift from a distant flight of swans as they flap their way slowly across the vastness that is the mire at Ferjubakki. Thin grasses bend in the chill breeze that blows from the far-off snowy mountains. There’s little sign of man’s presence here…

  • Background notes for press release

    Background notes for press release

    1. The Greenland White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons flavirostris is the most distinct sub-species of the circumpolar White fronted Goose Anser albifrons.  It breeds in west Greenland and migrates through Iceland to winter exclusively in Britain and Ireland, where it remains one of the rarest of wintering goose populations. 2. The population declined from 17,500-23,000 in…