Our Geese are cooked

Traveling around North Norfolk recently the picture has changed-instead of large numbers of Pinkfeet and White-fronted Geese we seem to have mainly Greylags. The two are probably not connected, since numbers of geese vary according to weather and food availability, but the fact is that we are seemingly being overrun with feral geese, which must affect food supply and habitat for genuinely wild birds. Canada Geese have always been with us, and do not seem to have increased greatly, but there is quite a large population of Barnacle Geese in Suffolk, Egyptian Geese are far commoner than they were ten years ago, there is a tiny population of Red-breasted Geese in East Anglia, and Snow Geese in Oxfordshire, a population in Argyll being down to single figures now. But it is mainly Greylags that are annoying, being noisy, messy and worst of all habituated to humans. Every reserve with any water has them. Unfortunately they cannot be culled, supposedly because they are a British breeding species, albeit in the far north. Greylags on Shetland have a "wildness" about them and are good to see, most are migrants wintering there. Other geese, escapes rather than feral, turn up from time to time, notably Bar-headed, Swan and Emperor. They are unlikely to be wild but.......If the Emperor Goose had turned up in the Hebrides rather than inland Suffolk we might be thinking????


 From a birder's viewpoint the main "problem" is whether ducks and geese are genuinely wild, but I believe we should stop worrying and leave it to the BOU (who have to worry), unless a bird is an obvious escape. I am quite happy to have Marbled and White-headed Ducks on my British list, isn't it odd that there have been no records of White-headed Ducks since the Ruddies were culled? Could it be that the reason for the cull (hybridisng with White-headed Ducks) is the very proof that the two species associate closely, and earlier records are far more likely to be wild. How do we now treat the few sightings of Ruddy Duck, did they escape the cull, or are they genuine vagrants from the USA? Most species of duck native to North America have turned up here, in varying numbers, but what has Wood Duck done to deserve rejection? Obviously the BOU cannot accept it on to Category A since that must be  proven as a scientific record, but why should a fully winged bird in Cornwall not be wild? Tameness or otherwise need not be an issue, I have a photo taken in California of a bird standing on a park bench. Presumably ducks are fed in similar fashion to the UK, and can readily become habituated to humans. I recently photographed a Pintail on Salthouse duck pond associating with Mallards. Anywhere else in Norfolk it would have been deemed wild, but was it just having a rest? 


 Another factor is the "carrier" species, if there is one. A Canvasback, which was Britain's first, appeared with Pochard in 1997, and spent a lot of time at Welney. It never came close to the hide and avoided the melee of swan feeding time. However, when it returned in 1998 it joined in with the other Pochards and happily spent time right in front of the hide. Had it done so the first year would it have been accepted? Falcated Ducks were always rejected until birds which arrived with wild Wigeon and remained wary whilst moving around with the Wigeon flocks suddenly struck a chord with someone and joined Category A, many years after the first (now accepted) record. Baikal Teal was at one time rejected on the grounds that the wild population was very small, so vagrancy was unlikely. That is, until wintering flocks were discovered in Korea numbering up to 100,000 birds. Baer's Pochard here would be the opposite, there are few anywhere but any escapes from captivity would be traceable, as there are even fewer. In your dreams!

 


This is not a criticism of any commitee reviewing records, there are nowadays many more tools in the armoury, such as DNA and stable isotope analysis. I  am happy to have any duck or goose on my list based on the evidence at the time. I personally can't make up my mind about the Wood Duck I saw in Cornwall, but the female we found in Essex and took to a vet was definitely an escapee! Geese tend to be more difficult because of large numbers of feral birds, but often the carrier species and its migration route gives a good clue. The only problem there is we always assumed that if a potential vagrant was with Greylags it was an escape, now it's difficult for birds not to be with Greylags! Geese will move from one flock to another once they are here, and they don't seem to neccessarily stick to the species they arrived with. So can we not do something about feral Greylags? 

 More ducks on the website

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