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Geese galore

Noisy flocks of pink-footed geese are a celebrated sound of autumn © David Tipling/2020VISION

Join birdwatcher Tom Hibbert on a wild goose chase this winter.

Whenever you visit a wetland or a local lake, you’re likely to see geese. There are Canada geese with a long black neck and white face patch, and greylag geese with a chunky orange beak. There might even be Egyptian geese, with a white flash on each wing and raucous honks that can sound like a lorry reversing. These geese are often bold and approachable, particularly in parks.

But each winter, we’re joined by hundreds of thousands of wilder wanderers. Geese that cross raging seas to reach the UK, seeking food and warmer weather. They usually travel as families, joining with others to form impressive flocks. They fill the sky with sound as they arrive, descending on estuaries, wetlands and fields. With more than seven species to discover, winter is a great time for a wild goose chase! Let’s meet a few of the winter visitors…

A flock of pink-footed geese feeding on sugar beet tops at an arable farm

Pink-footed geese © Chris Gomersall/2020VISION

Pink-footed geese

The pink-footed goose is our most abundant wintering goose, with around half a million of these delightful birds travelling to the UK, mainly from Iceland and Greenland. They fly in V-shaped skeins, giving out a constant chorus of high-pitched ‘wink wink’ calls. You often hear them long before you see them! Pink-footed geese tend to gather around estuaries and are particularly common in Scotland, Lancashire and Norfolk.

Large flocks of pink-footed geese can sometimes host rarer species, which have tagged along with them on their migration. It’s always worth carefully checking for white-fronted geese, bean geese or potentially something even rarer.

Pink-footed geese also create one of winter’s greatest wild spectacles! During the day flocks spread out, grazing in fields. They come together again at night, when they roost on wetlands or estuaries. At dawn and dusk, they fill the sky, creating a cacophony of whirring wings and squeaking calls that has to be seen (and heard) to be believed. 

White-fronted Goose

©David Tipling/2020VISION

White-fronted geese

Take one look at an adult and it’s easy to see where these geese got their name. They have a blazing white patch on their forehead! Another distinctive feature is the black barring on their belly. A few thousand reach the UK each winter, from Russia or Greenland. The Russian birds mainly visit the south and east, whilst the Greenland birds head to western Scotland and Ireland. Greenland white-fronted geese are slightly larger and darker, with bolder black belly bars and a mostly orange beak (it’s more pink in the birds from Russia). 

David Tipling/2020VISION

Barnacle geese (c) David Tipling/2020VISION

Barnacle geese

Barnacle geese are winter visitors from Greenland and Svalbard, where they often nest high up on Arctic cliffs. It’s a perilous start to life. The newly hatched chicks must jump to the ground below, falling and bouncing off rocks as they tumble to the bottom. When they’ve grown enough to fly, they join their parents on the autumn migration south. 

They mainly visit Scotland, northwest England and Northern Ireland. They’re usually found close to the coast, feeding on mudflats or nearby fields. In spring, they’ll head north, back to their Arctic nesting grounds. 

There are some barnacle geese that live in the UK all year round. They’re known as a naturalised population. These geese are thought to be the descendants of barnacle geese that escaped from collections, or arrived from populations in Continental Europe.

Brent goose (c) David Tipling

Brent Geese (c) David Tipling/2020VISION

Brent geese

These beautiful black and white birds are the smallest geese you’re likely to see in the UK, barely bigger than a mallard. There are two main subspecies of brent goose that visit us each winter. They come from different breeding grounds and favour different winter destinations, too.

Dark-bellied brent geese arrive from the boggy tundras of Siberia. They head to the southeast of Britain, from the Yorkshire coast round to Cornwall. Pale-bellied brent geese come from Canada and Svalbard. Canadian birds mostly winter around Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland, whilst those from Svalbard make a pilgrimage to Holy Island in Northumberland. In most years, a few black brants are also found in the UK – these come from Arctic Canada or eastern Siberia. 

Brent geese are coastal birds in winter, visiting muddy bays, estuaries, saltmarshes and coastal wetlands. They are particularly fond of feeding on eelgrass. 

Rare rewards

Every winter, birdwatchers brave the cold to scan through flocks of geese with binoculars and telescopes, hoping to find the odd one out. Rare geese that take a wrong turn and find themselves in the UK are usually mixed in with a flock of commoner geese, possibly having followed them all the way from their breeding grounds. There could be a red-breasted goose adding a flash of colour to a flock of brent geese, or a lesser white-fronted goose lurking amongst its slightly larger white-fronted goose relatives. 

Unlike the Canada geese and greylags found in parks, flocks of migratory geese are often skittish and easily spooked. It’s always best to watch them from a distance, to make sure they aren’t disturbed. That will give you more time to admire them and perhaps even find a rarity hiding in their midst!

Brent Geese flying in a V formation over Spurn Point.

Brent Geese flying in a V formation over Spurn Point. Credit: Harry Appleyard

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