Wild goose chase?

 

If you live in Endon you can't but fail to notice that we have our own flock of Canada geese. One afternoon in August I counted 334 individuals in one of the fields between the canal and Park Lane.

I have mixed feelings about them because on the one hand they are attractive, and I like the sound of them as they honk to each other as they fly overhead; they also offer a good opportunity to get a close up look at geese and watch their behaviour, which we otherwise would not see (as apart from domesticated farm geese, Endon is not noted for having any wild geese species). But on the other hand their prodigious droppings can lead to unpleasant pollution of urban parks and their propensity to interbreed is resulting in the genetic pollution of our native species of geese.

Canada geese are not native to the British Isles, not surprisingly, given their name, they originate in North America. They were introduced into Britain by King Charles II in 1665 as he wanted them to enhance St James's park in London. Louis XIV introduced them into France around the same time. Later on, at the start of the twentieth century Canada geese were taken to Scandinavia. The descendants of the St James's Park geese are now well established in the British Isles – they are easily able to survive and breed in the wild. Genetic studies of British feral Canada geese suggest that they are the result of cross breeding between two races of Canada geese, the great Canada goose Branta canadensis canadensis and the giant canada goose B. c maxima. (altogether there are seven sub species of Canada goose). In their native land Canada geese migrate between summer breeding grounds and overwintering quarters, whilst in Britain the populations are fairly sedentary. However, there are a significant number of birds, mainly from the English midlands, that migrate to the Beauly Firth in northern Scotland to moult. I have seen no sign that any of the Endon flock move very far away – I must endeavour to count them more often this year to see if there is any indication that any of them do migrate.

The Endon flock is around from about July to the end of February. It comprises of adult pairs and their previous year's offspring, juveniles that are not yet old enough to breed, and individual adults that have not paired. Young birds do not breed until they are three years old, but then, as you may have seen for yourself, they can have quite large broods of up to seven goslings, though many of these will not survive into adulthood. The winter flock breaks up at the start of the breeding season, during which pairs wander off to establish their own breeding territory.

During the milder part of this January I saw that some geese pairs have begun the process of splitting off from the winter flock and starting to look for nest sites. They select sites close to the water along the Caldon canal and probably other places in the area. When the snow and ice arrived these pairs moved back into the body of the flock, but I expect they will soon be back on the canal side, picking a spot to rear this year's young. Although the sexes are alike in Canada geese it is possible to tell which is the male and which the female at the start of the breeding season. The male is generally the one who is standing, neck held up straight, watching out for any potential trouble. He guards the female while she is feeding up in order to nourish her forthcoming eggs, then, whilst she is incubating he stands near by and guards both her and the eggs – especially if she leaves in order to feed. I suspect the main predators are corvids (crows, magpies, rooks) and foxes.

It is estimated that there are currently about 84,000 Canada geese living in the British Isles. There have been localised attempts to reduce the numbers of Canada geese, for instance by shooting or pricking (or oiling) the eggs so that the female continues to sit but they do not hatch. It would take a coordinated nationwide project to eliminate them all. And, of course, that would cost a lot of money and may not be very popular with some people. Currently there are no plans to try to exterminate the British population of Canada geese so it looks like we have to tolerate our Endon flock, whatever we think of them!