It’s the time of the year when I have better things to be doing than writing this and undoubtedly most of you have better things to be doing than reading what I write. Actually that’s true all year. So I’ll leave you with a quick mystery perhaps you can answer. You’ve heard of manky mallards, well today I came across a mere (glacial pond/lake) in Ellesmere, Shropshire, that was full of manky greylags. All kinds of weird domestic geese mixing with hybrids (certainly seemed to be some Swan Goose in them). And there was also this, along with some birds that looked like they could be crosses between this and a domestic/greylag.
Mystery Goose!
I think it’s a Snow Goose. It is a possibility in Britain, and can be a much more common escape here too. It certainly seemed smaller than the Greylags and Canadian Geese around.
The Mere at Ellesmere is actually quite a nice spot, full of Tufted Ducks, Great Cormorants, Great Crested Grebes and Little Dabchicks. The surrounding wetlands on the Shropshire/Cheshire/Wales borders also held Eurasian Wigeon, Shelducks, Northern Shovellers and Common Teal.
And that’s enough of your time wasted. Happy New Year and see you then!
Duncan, that looks like a “domestic” goose. Snow Goose would have a black grin patch, black primaries, and a “blue” goose would be patterned differently (i.e. darker overall, dark neck). Snow Geese are also conspicuously smaller than these abominable farm geese.
Neat-looking bird, Duncan. But I have to say I don’t see much here to make me think of a snow goose. Both the plumage color and pattern and the structure of head, neck, and bill look like a graylag to me.
Interested to hear what others might think —
Happy New Year!
Thanks. The photo doesn’t convey that this was smaller than a greylag or domestic goose but I’m happy to accept it’s a weird mix of the two.