The Swedish population of Lesser White- fronted Goose (LWfG) has steadily been increasing since the population declined in 2012-2013 and this is primarily due to the reinforcement releases of LWfG that has been done.
In 2023 the population size was estimated to 130-140 birds. Previous survival estimations shows that the breeding success for the Swedish population is not high enough to compensate for the losses of adult birds during summer. Even though breeding success has been relatively good during the four last years (2021,2022,2023,2024) were totally more than 100 young LWfG has been fledged, it is still a very small and fragile population. Reinforcement releases of captive bred birds is still needed to avoid a population decline. Sweden holds the only breeding population of LWfG within the European Union and with that comes a big responsibility for the species survival.
A major part of the Swedish LWfG population is today observed and reported at the pre-breeding site in Västerbotten. An estimation of the population size is then made with the numbers counted in Västerbotten together with the readings of color rings in other places in Sweden and abroad. The Swedish population of LWfG migrates to the southwest and flocks are regularly seen in the southern parts of the country, primarily in Hudiksvall, Hjälstaviken (Uppland), and Svartåmynningens nature reserve (Östergötland).
To monitor LWfG in the field is hard work and it requires a lot of knowledge and patience from the observer. The Swedish Lesser White-fronted Goose Project is dependent on our devoted volunteers that spend hours of their free time to observe and report LWfG appearing in their local area.
Lesser White-fronted Geese has a strong philopatry and especially females tend to return and breed at the site where they learned to fly. The Swedish population of LWfG has only one known breeding site in Sweden. This makes the population vulnerable since a site-specific threat then can become a threat to the entire population. This is the main reason why the Swedish Lesser White-fronted Goose Project in 2020 started up a new pilot project which aims to establish a new breeding population in a different geographic area in the Swedish mountains. Hopefully this action will help the Swedish population of LWfG to reclaim new breeding sites outside the main breeding area.
