![]() ![]() You can discover some of the best places to see migrating geese on The Wildlife Trusts’ website, with our top spots for watching pink-footed geese and brent geese. In autumn, flocks can often be seen migrating just offshore, following the coast. They’re a rare sight inland, favouring saltmarshes and mudflats on the south and east coasts of England, or around Ireland. Their flying flocks aren’t as precise as those of pink-footed geese, forming wavering lines or occasionally looser Vs. These delightfully dusky birds are barely bigger than a mallard, but they journey from as far as Canada or Arctic Russia to spend the winter on the coasts of the UK and Ireland. A dawn or dusk visit to a pink-footed goose roost is an unforgettable experience, with hundreds or thousands of raucous birds leaving or arriving en masse.īrent geese (c) David Tipling - 2020VISION Long-haul travellersĪnother goose that travels in numbers is the brent goose. At night they come together to roost in huge flocks, bringing safety in numbers. ![]() The geese spread out during the day, feeding on fields or coastal mudflats. But the spectacle doesn’t end when they reach their wintering grounds, in fact, it adopts a schedule. Many take a coastal route, though large flocks can often be seen and heard moving overland, too. As autumn draws on, they continue their journey south to wintering quarters like Morecambe Bay and the Wash. In 2016, the Scottish Wildlife Trust counted a staggering 90,000 pink-footed geese at their Montrose Basin wildlife reserve.īut for most of the geese, this is just a rest stop. The first port of call for many of them is Scotland, with geese beginning to arrive in September and numbers building to a peak in October. Look up and you might see skeins and skeins of geese filling the sky, though the numbers in a flock can range from hundreds to just a dozen or so. You often hear them before you see them, a chorus of bugling ‘ink-ink’ calls echoing from above. Over 500,000 of them arrive each autumn, hailing from Iceland and Greenland. There are several species that make the journey to our shores each year, but it tends to be the pink-footed geese that make the biggest impression. So now we know why geese fly in sprawling V-shapes, it’s time to get out and see them! The arrival of migrating geese is one of the UK’s greatest wildlife spectacles. Pink-footed geese (c) Guy Edwardes - 2020VISION Seasonal sights and sounds A study of birds flying in this formation has shown that the birds at the back of the V have slower heart-rates than those at the front! Of course, that’s a bit unfair on the poor goose at the front, so they regularly swap places within the formation, giving each goose chance to rest. Each goose makes things a little easier for the one behind it in the V-shape. By flying slightly behind it and off to the side, other birds can take advantage of this upwash to get some free lift, meaning they don’t have to flap as hard to stay airborne. The bird at the front of the V works the hardest, its wings disrupting the air and leaving a trail of upwash either side of it. This fancy flying isn’t just showing off their skills in aerobatic organisation, it serves a vital purpose: saving energy. These small family groups join up with others, forming large flocks that often fly in formation, that famous V-shape. Geese migrate in family groups, the young birds staying close to their parents as they leave their breeding grounds for a winter retreat. But if you’re up in the air, there’s no better wingman than a goose! These intrepid animals make incredible journeys, crossing seas and cresting mountains. It lacks the predatory nature of ‘Viper’, the speed of ‘Merlin’, or the bravado of ‘Maverick’. ![]() Of all the callsigns in the Top Gun movies, ‘Goose’ might not sound like the most exciting. (Image above (c) David Tipling - 2020VISION) Tom Hibbert of The Wildlife Trusts suggests where and when you have the best chance of encountering spectacular sight of migrating geese on autumn walks. ![]()
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