Brant goose migration Branta bernicla
▶ Follow the brant goose across the big globe
Press ▶ to play the year. Line: a simplified typical route, joining the main cluster of GBIF records in each month (adjusted for observer effort).
| Scientific name | Branta bernicla |
|---|---|
| Wingspan | 101 cm |
| IUCN status | Least concern |
| Records mapped | 990,953 (GBIF) |
| GPS / geolocator tracks | none with an open licence yet |
Facts from Wikidata Q27050 (CC0).
When does the brant goose arrive in the UK?
A winter visitor in the records: numbers build from mid September and stay high until about mid April.
Bars: this species’ share of all UK bird records in GBIF (CC0/CC BY), by month, scaled to the peak month. Based on 87,167 UK records. Weekly counts from the GBIF occurrence search API (country=GB). Dates are read from records, not from a survey, so treat them as a guide.
When do they arrive in and leave the UK? →
Migration in the data
990,953 GBIF records (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 licences only) are mapped here, in 1.41° grid cells, month by month.
In Europe and Africa, the centre of the records (adjusted for observer effort) is furthest north in August (about 76°N) and furthest south in February (about 52°N).
Month by month: centre of records in Europe and Africa
| Month | Centre (latitude) | South of the Equator |
|---|---|---|
| January | 52°N | 0% |
| February | 52°N | 0% |
| March | 52°N | 0% |
| April | 56°N | 0% |
| May | 64°N | 0% |
| June | 73°N | 0% |
| July | 75°N | 0% |
| August | 76°N | 0% |
| September | 63°N | 0% |
| October | 56°N | 0% |
| November | 54°N | 0% |
| December | 52°N | 0% |
Tracked birds
No openly licensed (CC0 / CC BY) tracking data package for this species was found in the Movebank Data Repository yet, so only records are shown.
About the brant goose
The brant or brent goose is a small goose in the genus Branta. There are three subspecies, all of which winter along temperate-zone sea-coasts and breed on the high-Arctic tundra.
From the Wikipedia article “Brant (goose)” (revision 1374627697), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources
GBIF occurrence records, licence CC0 1.0 or CC BY 4.0 only, observations only (no specimens), filtered with: taxonKey=5232446&license=CC0_1_0&license=CC_BY_4_0&occurrenceStatus=PRESENT&hasGeospatialIssue=false&basisOfRecord=HUMAN_OBSERVATION&basisOfRecord=MACHINE_OBSERVATION&basisOfRecord=OBSERVATION. Monthly queries: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec. GBIF.org (23 October 2026) occurrence data accessed via the GBIF API; a GBIF download DOI is still to be added. Contributing datasets.