Flying High and Free

The free and mighty goose,

a life in the wilds and wilderness of the far north.

The noisy skeins of Pink Footed Geese have mainly arrive from their breeding grounds in Iceland and eastern Greenland over the last few weeks. Pink feet are smallish geese with small stubby bills and rounded heads giving them quite a distinctive profile; to be honest I have always thought that they have a friendly sort of look to them. They are pinkish grey with a dark head and neck, a pink bill and pink feet and legs hence their name. They breed in Iceland and eastern Greenland between the snow dusted clumps of grass in May and they are birds of habit to say the least in that they use the same nest sites for years – some have been used for over forty years. They like to nest together sometimes only a few yards away from their neighbours – safety in numbers sort of thing I guess. Pink feet always bring back memories of pitch-black mornings, cold frosts as we headed to the estuary, miles of trudging to get settled before dawn began to break. Then cups of piping hot soup and a chance to thaw snuggled up against the freezing wind before the geese took off to forage over the potato and carrot fields. Then the long tramp back to the car to scrape the frost off the windscreen before the journey home. Those were the days!!!!

It’s so much easier these days – just pop over to Martin Mere Wetland Reserve and watch in comfort sat snuggled in heated hides as tens of thousands fly in every evening. What a sight.

It’s the time of year when it’s really important to put out the bird feeders – we nearly gave up last year as all we ended up doing was feeding the grey squirrels. We will have to try harder this year and find some way of attaching the feeders that the squirrels can’t access – but if you remember the old lager advert it isn’t going to be that easy. Both the RSPB and BTO now recommend all year feeding providing that you follow some dietary changes. During the spring and summer (if we ever get any again!!!) don’t feed peanuts, large chunks of bread or fat as these items could choke chicks, if you are using peanuts make sure you put them in a mesh feeder so that they can't be taken whole, or crush them to leave on a bird table. Sunflower seeds are fast replacing the peanut in popularity for feeding garden birds as they seem to attract a wider range of species and are safe for all year round feeding.

You can do so much by doing just a little..............

Putting food out for the birds in winter probably saves the lives of up to a million garden birds a year.To survive winter, small birds such as blue tits and wrens must eat a quarter of their body weight in food each day.