The Greenland White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons flavirostris

whenever we have invaded their house at Wexford
Slobs. Very fond thanks to them and to John
Wilson who was the mastermind behind the entire
Greenland White-fronted Goose collar-marking
scheme. John has been the quiet, but determined,
driving force behind the enormous Irish
contribution to Greenland White-fronted Goose
research and conservation. It is he who has ensured
the active collaboration of all parties that
has made the work recounted here a truly international
project. It has been enormous fun, as well
as a marvellous experience, to work with him,
David Norriss and Oscar Merne over the years,
and the great enthusiasm of Paddy O´Sullivan
and Chris Wilson at Wexford. We are all deeply
indebted to the late Major Robin Ruttledge whose
enthusiasm for Greenland White-fronted Geese
has run undiminished for many decades. His
wonderful and stimulating correspondence on
the subject convinced us that this was a goose
population worth fighting for, and we thank him
for all the inspiration, information and support
he gave us.
I have a very special affection for Iceland and the
role it plays in the annual cycle of the geese, and
I count myself exceptionally lucky to have an excuse
to travel there and share their stunning landscape
with the very special inhabitants of that
extraordinary land. My thanks to Óli Einarsson,
one very special selfless person, for all he has done
over the years to help us and our invasions. We
thank his family for tolerating our many visits
and in particular thank his parents for the loan of
their beautiful summerhouse as a base for operations
over many years. Johann-Óli Hilmarsson
has provided me with more funny after-dinner
stories and brushes with death than most, and
this larger than life man has come to know Whitefronted
Geese, through the telescope and the camera
viewfinder, better than most of us. I thank him
for sharing his considerable talent with us
through the marvel of camera and film. We have
been extremely lucky to have the help and support
of Arnor Sigfusson and I must thank him and
his very special family who have given me and
my family such warm hospitality in Reykjavík
and such happy memories. Thanks also to all the
rest of the crew at the Institute of Natural History,
who have always been so welcoming to us,
especially Ævar Petersen, Oli (“OK”) Nielsen and
Einar Þorleifsson. Thanks to also Arnþor Garðarsson
at the University of Reykjavík for sharing his
knowledge of Icelandic ornithology, and his indulgence
of us over many years. In very recent
88
years, we have made a number of friends at the
Agricultural College at Hvanneryi, who have tolerated
our eccentric activities on the farm there.
For their kindness, help and hospitality, I would
especially like to thank Björn Þorsteinsson and
his wife Anna Guðrún Þórhallsdóttir, as well as
Sverrir Heiðar Júliússon for his interest and supply
of beautiful maps, and Rikharð Brynjólfsson
for his help and knowledge of Phleum. Many have
helped in Iceland over the years, but special
thanks to those who gave up their own time to
come and help with observations of geese, namely
Hugh Boyd, David Stroud, Alyn Walsh, Ian
Francis, Nicky Penford, Anne Fox, Stephanie
Warren, Nige Jarrett, Nick Picozzi, John Turner,
Roy King, Alastair Duncan, Timme Nyegaard and
Vinni Madsen.
My years working at Slimbridge were filled with
very happy memories, and it was in this very
stimulating environment that I learned so much.
I thank the many colleagues who made such an
impression on my life at that time, but I must especially
thank Carl Mitchell, Janet Kear, Roy King
and John Turner. It was simply a huge privilege
(not to mention enormous fun!) to have worked
with so many talented, dedicated and enthusiastic
people at WWT, in particular, folk such as Nigel
Jarrett and Baz Hughes. I must particularly thank
Stephanie Warren for her contribution to our
understanding of Greenland White-fronted
Geese. Mike Bell and Habiba Gitay both provided
mathematical support and happy collaboration
to this numerical illiterate. Myrfyn Owen was
kind enough to permit me to use considerable
time and effort on Greenland Whitefronts, and I
owe him a special thank you for that precious freedom.
I have been extremely fortunate to work for the
Danish National Environmental Research Institute,
and to benefit from an invigorating and
stimulating working environment there. I must
single out the contribution of Jesper Madsen who
stands like a beacon in our field and has been such
a source of stimulus and help over many years,
his encouragement and inspiration cannot be
underestimated. His kindness and support have
been a great comfort at all times, not least when
this work seemed impossible to reconcile with
real life. Thanks to Jesper for also finding the time
in his busy life to read and comment upon this
thesis. My thanks also to Stefan Pihl for his friendship
and kindness, to Henning Ettrup for making
a stupid foreigner feel so accepted in Den-