Project summary
925
Birds colour-marked
328
Sightings received
Winter 2021/22
Years project started
Colour-marks used
(Note: some rings have a vertical bar between the characters)
(Note: some rings have a vertical bar between the characters)
Background
Project Penelope is an international collaborative project between wildfowlers and scientists aimed at improving our knowledge of one of Europe’s most popular quarry ducks. A combination of traditional (ringing) and cutting-edge (GPS-tracking) techniques will be used to follow the migration of Eurasian Wigeon. This project will provide invaluable information on Wigeon habitat use, movements and demography (including reproduction and survival), which will be immediately useful to assess the adequacy of our protected sites network and inform decisions to secure the sustainability of hunting.
Furthermore, Project Penelope will provide a basic understanding of relationships between breeding, staging and wintering areas as a basis for developing adaptive harvest management programmes, start to compile data on annual survival and reproductive success and guide actions to improve habitat conditions for the species.
The project funded by the Wildlife Habitats Charitable Trust (WHCT) runs from 2021 to 2024, and the Waterbird Colour-marking Group is coordinating colour-marking effort in Finland, Denmark and United Kingdom. The project is being led by the Waterfowlers’ Network and partners include The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), The Danish Hunters’ Association, Aarhus University, Turku University, Helsinki University and a number of dedicated volunteers.
Waterbird Colour-marking Group 