Where to see migrating geese

According to the RSPB around 700,000 geese arrive in the UK from overseas every year. Find out where you can see these spectacular migrants.

The geese travel thousands of miles from their breeding grounds across the Arctic circle, Scandinavia, Canada and Greenland. They migrate here to escape the harsh weather and to feed on our saltmarshes, estuaries and farmland.

Scotland

Barnacle goose
Image © Stuart Carlton

Scotland is often the first part of the UK where migrating birds from the north touch down on.

In the north the isles of Orkney and other Hebridean islands see barnacle geese and white-fronted geese arriving for the winter from September. However, the greater numbers fly in around the west along the Solway coast. Over 24,000 barnacle geese have been known to roost on the mudflats of the Solway Firth and Caerlaverock NNR, and this is just the population from Svalbard. More than half of the Greenland populations of both barnacle and white-fronted geese winter on the isle of Islay with up to around 30,000 birds visible from the RSPB Loch Gruinart reserve.

Pink-footed geese, also known as pinkfeet, arrive from around mid-September, with their populations peaking in October and November. Huge roosts of up to 25,000 birds can be seen in the surrounds of RSPB's Loch of Strathbeg and Loch Leven NNR in the west, with Caerlaverock hosting smaller winter populations. Montrose basin has had record-breaking numbers of pink-footed geese this year (2010) with 65,000 arriving in October.

Pink-footed goose in Aberdeenshire Image © Alec MacKellaig

Late September sees the arrival of greylag geese from their summer grounds in Iceland. They come to Scotland and the north of England foraging on farmland and mudflats during the day and returning to roost around dusk which is the best time to see them. The eastern and southern coasts of Scotland are the best places to see greylag, with hundreds wintering along the Moray Firth and in Aberdeenshire, visible from reserves such as the Loch of Strathbeg.

Taiga and Tundra bean geese can both be found in southern Scotland near Falkirk. Over half of the Taiga bean goose population that come to the UK winter here and so they are legally protected. You may spot them overhead in the area around late September when they arrive or March as they leave for Scandinavia.

The Welcome to Scotland website has an excellent index of wildlife with advice on where and when to spot them.

Ireland

Around a fifth of the entire population of barnacle geese that come to our shores will overwinter in Ireland, around 12,000 birds. The majority reside on the west coast near county Mayo and Sligo. They arrive in late September and the best populations can be seen at Ballintemple and at Ballygilgan Nature Reserve in Lissadell.

Pale bellied Brent geese come to Ireland in their thousands in October. They can be found at Lough Foyle and Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland, where over 60% of the world population are thought to spend the winter. Strangford Lough sees about 20,000 individuals arriving in October every year and WWT Castle Espie on the edge of the lough has dedicated Brent bird hides for watching the geese.

About a third of the world's population of Greenland white-fronted geese overwintered at Wexford Wildfowl Reserve in the late 1900s but the numbers have since reduced. Around 10,000 can still be seen arriving here from western Greenland in October, along with over 2,000 pale-bellied Brent geese from north east Canada.

Wales

A rare sighting of a lesser white-fronted goose. Image © Mark Coates

The white-fronted geese that arrive in the UK from Greenland will winter mostly in Scotland and Ireland, but a few join the Siberian birds around the Severn estuary and Wales in the south.

In particular Ynis-Hir on the west coast sees a small and ageing population of around 80 Greenland white-fronted geese. It's their only regular wintering site in Wales and England and they are suffering badly from being outcompeted at their breeding grounds by Canada geese. With less than half the population of three years ago remaining, you may not have long left to see them!

A larger population of just over 300 barnacle geese also winter around Ynis-Hir and they see a few pink-footed geese every year as well.

England

A skein of Brent geese at north Norfolk Image © Nick Ford

England hosts extremely large flocks of migrating geese across various sites. One of the most noteable of these is in the north-west at Martin Mere, whose overwintering population of pink-footed geese is usually around 20 to 30,000 strong. However, this year (2010) they have record numbers with about 36,000 counted in mid-October. Martin mere also hosts a smaller population of Greenland white-fronted geese.

The northern border with Scotland also sees over 24,000 barnacle geese roosting on the mudflats of the Solway Firth and Caerlaverock NNR in Scotland. This is the entire population that come to the UK from Svalbard. They can be seen at RSPB Campfield Marsh grazing in large flocks from October through to March.

In the north-east of England, Lindisfarne NNR is a site of importance for pale-bellied Brent geese from Svalbard, Greenland and Franz Josef land. This is their only regular wintering site in the UK and around 3,000 arrive here from October.

The east coast around East Anglia sees thousands of pink-footed geese assembling from late September. RSPB Snettisham is a good place for watching them across The Wash. Norfolk also sees England's only regularly returning flock of Taiga bean geese at the RSPB's Buckenham Marshes.

Around 100,000 dark-bellied Brent geese come to the UK from Arctic Siberia and they can be seen only on the southern and eastern coasts of England. The Wash in north Norfolk is nationally important for dark-bellied geese as well as pink-footed geese and many other waders. Around 400,000 birds can be present at any one time, so it's well worth a visit to one of the reserves in the area. RSPB Freiston shore, and Frampton Marsh are good sights to see them.

Tundra bean geese are a shorter-billed race than the Taiga and are regularly seen across the east and south-east of England. Unfortunately their visits are unpredictable but around 100 individuals arrive from Arctic Russia to overwinter here between September and March. The rest of the population winter around Falkirk in Scotland.

Around 1,500 European white-fronted geese come into the UK from their breeding grounds in Arctic Russia and northwest Siberia in October. All of them overwinter in southern england.