Red Breasted Goose

Hi Errington and welcome to the forum.

Chances are that is an escapee from a collection that has hooked up with the Canada's for company. If you look at BirdGuides there are a few reports around the country mostly assumes to be escapes. They breed in the Arctic tundra and winter around the Black Sea. Not sure how many genuine vagrants turn up in the UK.

Where did you see it and did you get a photo?

TJ

 

 

Hi-

Red Breasted Goose is a rare visitor to GB,  some winters there are are a handful and other winters none at all. It is widely kept in collections (and they do escape.) I know of 9 such birds within 20 miloes of my house.

In 35 years of birding I've seen 5 wild ones in GB.

:)

S

Hello, my husband and I just walked in a local park and saw a bird we'd never seen in the U.K.; when I got home I downloaded the Merlin app and it's apparently a Red Breasted Goose. I understand they are rare here, perhaps it was blown over in the recent storms? The bird, which was solitary and following the Tufted Ducks, Canada Geese, etc., on the small boating lake seemed very friendly and came quite close to us; I understand it could be an escapee from a wildlife park or similar?

Hi Anne, you don't say where you are but it looks like one was spotted in Norfolk yesterday. Don't know if it was an escapee or a windblown visitor. As the previous post to yours was 2011 I would say they are rare :o)

Sorry, the park is Queens Park in Heywood, in between Rochdale and Bury, Greater Manchester? I would post a photo, but not sure how that is done on this site; if you can advise, I'm happy to share photos!

LINK from a post by Mike B

Not sure how close to WWT Martin Mere you are, but I believe the have Red Breasted Geese, but would assume they would be prevented from flying somehow

Thanks for the info re posting photos; I will endeavor to add one at least in a bit! We are about 30 miles from Martin Mere, a lovely place to visit; not sure if they would limit their flight ability?

They would have to, or their specimen birds would all potentially fly off!

I suppose that's true!

Copy/Pasted from a Trip advisor reply to a review about WWT Slimbridge

Samantha L, Marketing and Communications Manager at WWT Slimbridge Wetland Centre, responded to this review
Responded August 12, 2022
Thank you for your review. Over 99% of birds at WWT wetland centres are wild and free flying. For the small number of birds in our collection (that help to engage visitors with nature, the challenges the birds face and raise awareness of the critical importance of wetlands), we are morally and legally bound to prevent escapes, which could harm either native wildlife and the birds themselves. We have made a concerted effort over the last few years to significantly reduce the number of birds we pinion, by reducing the collection as a whole, carrying out feather clipping and building large aviaries, where appropriate. At Slimbridge this has included the construction of our large Waterscapes aviary, and the reduction of our flamingo flock sizes.

As you have emailed us directly, we will respond to your email with more detailed information.

Kind regards.