Monitoring in Lapland

The potential breeding grounds of Lesser White-fronted Geese in Finnish Lapland and Finnmark, as well as the late spring and early autumn staging areas in the river valleys in northern Finnish Lapland and in the Varangerfjord area were monitored annually, but at relatively low intensity. Metsähallitus / Natural Heritage Services Lapland implements these parts of the work in the project, in co-operation with WWF Finland.

Monitoring of the late spring staging sites was carried out in the Tana River valley (Utsjoki) and in the Könkämäeno - Lätäseno River valley (Enontekiö) in late May for ca two weeks annually. During the breeding season, a team of one to three persons surveyed annually (2005–2008) at least one potential breeding area in Finnish Lapland, based on available recent information and reported recent sightings.

In addition, the Life project organised field surveys of the Norwegian core breeding areas of the LWfG. This area was re-located as a result of the satellite tracking conducted by the project in 2006, and the breeding area surveys were arranged annually since then. In late August, a two-week survey was arranged annually (2005–2008) in the Varangerfjord area.

The results show that the Tana River valley is a permanent late spring staging area of the Fennoscandian LWfG population, but the numbers of LWfG visiting these sites are very low. The breeding areas of the LWfG visiting these sites are not known, but based on the late spring observation dates it is assumed that they are breeding in the surrounding mountain areas either on the Norwegian or Finnish side. The surveys of the potential breeding areas on the Finnish side did not result in observations of LWfG. On the other hand the potential breeding areas in the mountain areas are vast and extremely difficult cover by field surveys. Based on the annual observations in late spring close to potential/historical Finnish breeding areas, and also on the regularly received but unconfirmed sightings from the breeding areas, we consider the Finnish population estimate of 0–5 breeding pairs still valid.

The knowledge of the status and distribution in the Norwegian core breeding area has improved significantly during the project. The project provided the Norwegian authorities with all the data on the LWfG occurrences in the area, and stressed that the off-road traffic and other human disturbance in the area is a serious potential threat for the critically endangered LWfG population. This relates also to the finding by the Life project on the importance of a successful breeding season for the whole population. Effective control of the Red Fox population in this area is of vital importance for the LWfG.

No observation of LWfG were made in the annual autumn surveys in the traditional autumn staging area in the Varangerfjord area.