The Meaning of Geese by Nick Acheson

Author:Nick Acheson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing

Thursday 10th December

Only two geese have a Holarctic distribution, breeding right around the northern tundras of Europe, Asia and North America. One is the brent goose, three of whose geographical forms – dark-bellied, pale-bellied and black brant – I have seen on my bike this year. James and I discussed the fourth – the grey-bellied brant – a few days ago, while we sheltered by a hedge.

The second Holarctic species is the greater white-fronted goose. Taxonomists disagree on the number of its regional forms, but (excluding the birds which have lately settled to breed in the Netherlands) all are long-distance migrants between Arctic breeding grounds and temperate winter grounds. Breeding in western Alaska and wintering along the Pacific coast of North America, from California south to Mexico, the Pacific white-fronted goose is the smallest of the American forms. In places it can be seen in winter beside the larger, darker tule white-fronted goose, which breeds only around Cook Inlet in Alaska, and winters in Central California, in the Sacramento and Suisun marshes. The most widespread of the American forms is Gambel’s white-fronted goose, which breeds across the north of Alaska and Canada and winters largely in coastal states around the Gulf of Mexico. It is known to US wildfowlers as the specklebelly, on account of the black blotches shown by all adult greater whitefronts.

Two forms of the same species winter in the British Isles. The striking Greenland white-fronted goose breeds in western Greenland, migrates through Iceland and winters in Scotland, the Hebrides and Ireland, plus in small numbers in North West England and North Wales. The Russian white-fronted goose breeds right across Arctic Russia, from Europe to Chukotka. It winters in many temperate regions of Eurasia, including Northwest Europe, the steppes of Central Europe, the Black Sea, the marshes of Iraq, and wetlands in eastern China, the Korean Peninsula and Japan. This lovely bird is the whitefront familiar to English birders. It is the scarcest and last to arrive of the three geese whose flocks grace North Norfolk every winter.

Russian white-fronted geese have been known on Holkham’s grazing marshes since records began. For Henry Stevenson, in the 1860s and 70s, the Russian whitefront was far less common than it is today: ‘This goose is considered by Lord Leicester to be rare at Holkham, except in hard weather, when it commonly appears in flocks of from five to ten, and, being less shy, is easier of approach than others.’ Andy now sees a flock of between 250 and 350 whitefronts every year. Still more use Holkham as a staging ground on spring migration, he believes, as the flock usually swells in late winter. His highest count at this time was of 800 birds.

As I cycled along the north edge of Holkham Park this morning, I caught sight of a small flock close to the road in morning sunshine. After several days of rain and fog, this sunshine alone was a treat. I pulled to the side of the road, assuming that

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