09/02/2021 Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield

Barnacle Goose: Another day and another goose, this time a monochrome barnacle goose which I noticed during a ecological survey I was doing at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. 

The bird was happily feeding on the well manicured lawns in front of Bretton Hall, beside the main lake.  It was accompanied by 80 or so Canada geese that were also loafing and foraging on the lawns. 

The small black and white goose stood out against the backdrop of honking Canada geese especially as it was sporting a prominent yellow 'spiral poultry ring' these 18mm plastic rings are typically used domesticated ducks, large hens cockerels etc.

There aren't many records of barnacle geese at YSP back nevermind one with a distinctive yellow poultry ring. 

So where did it come from?

Well I can't find any info online regarding any local barnacle geese sporting this ring, no reports or images so who knows! 

Still despite its highly likely plastic credentials it was nice to see up close and personal.  YSP is a great place for a walk and a spot of birding, once these never ending lockdown restrictions are lifted I would highly recommend ist anyone.

 

12/02/2017 Fylde, Lancashire

Todd's Canada Goose:  Yesterday I was back on the Fylde goosing and this time I had lady luck on my side as I saw all the geese I was hoping for.

After reading Dave Craven's Twitter post giving some direction to a very large flock of pinkies and the location of the Todd's I decided to go straight there and spent two hours in the freezing cold wind scanning through the tons of geese.

Barnacle Goose: The Todd's showed well within the flock and was easy to pick out, however it was best viewed from Gulf Lane, just past the goat farm.

The flock also contained two Barnacle Geese and three European White-fronted Geese, but I was unable to pick out any Bean Geese, the wind was frustrating me and the grass was pretty tall obscuring their legs.

Pink-footed Geese:  This part of Lancashire is brilliant at this time of year, there is nothing better than spending a couple of hours goosing.

Snow Goose: Not only did I finally catch up with the Todd's I also caught up with the blue morph Snow Goose by Woodlands Country Park caravan site.

The Snow Goose was showing incredibly well within a large flock of Greylag Geese.

This bird is generally thought to be an escaped bird, however I read it had come in with a flock of pinkies and moved in with the Greylag as both birds like to eat grass.

After dipping this bird on several occasions I was made up to have finally seen it, despite its origins its a cracking bird to see.

From Woodlands Country Park I headed to Scronkey, a little village near Skate Pool, here I not only caught up with the Red-breasted Goose but Freestyle 'Fred' Fren and Simon Smethurst kindly pointed me in the direction of the RBG.

I watched the RBG weave in and out of the other geese and get lost between the fence posts and undulating ground.

The RBG was pretty distant, viewed from Lancaster Road and was with 7 Euro White-fronted Geese and about 80 pinkies.