Your comments greatly appreciated as ever Ian, and in response.... Obviously knowing that Goose species can exhibit or even genetically possess domestic tendencies, you're right in that it's the observers opinion that matters to make the call and my first thoughts at the time were that it was a lone bird that had flown in with the Pink Foot's, and that it may well have been wild, but in all honesty I was only speculating and I simply didn't know. But then you also have the scenario that I reckon many birders have been through..."hold on a minute, I've braved the ice and snow, piercing winds and torrential rain to see this bird...it's got to be wild, surely?"
I wonder how many of us have ever thought that? I know I have! Cheers Rob
Firstly, don't necessarily read too much into any such goose having no leg rings (few captive/feral/escape birds do) or associating with a wild species too.
The main thing though is that you only have to justify its potential origins to yourself really. They can be a nightmare to judge the origins of, particularly here in the North-West and there are many things to consider when doing so. The Manchester Birding website has had such a strict policy (of only being able to 'count' proven wild birds) merely as it gives everyone the same level playing field and quite frankly makes proven wild birds such as those at Pennington yesterday terrifically exciting and in ticking terms, valuable!
In all honesty it wouldn't be right for me to judge a bird like that you saw as I don't know the full story and I feel you should just be honest with yourself and if you're happy with it then that's all that matters. Either that or wait until you see one (or more) which you feel have better credentials or can even be proven as wild
The fact is that Greater Manchester (like so many other counties) is 'plagued' by feral Barnacle Geese (only from a recording sense; they're lovely birds all the same) and deciding what was potentially wild from what was not is seriously more difficult that most observers might think. Of course one could count all Barnacle Geese under category C2 but wouldn't it be much better to wait for a truly wild bird (which must surely occur) to appear rather than a bread feeing mangy old bird at a local pond? What does it matter I hear you ask? Well, not much quite frankly, but for the purposes of the Manchester Birding website the stance was taken that none were 'acceptable' as wild unless it could be proven, which appeared a really big ask until now as that would mean seeing a colour-ringed bird, but appearing through the 'feral quagmire', comes our knight in shining armour bearing a bright orange ring and with it hope of finally sealing a truly wild Barnacle Goose in the county
Taking into account your comments here Ian, and also coupling that with John's observation that you may get a truly wild Barnacle Goose coming in from Greenland arriving with the Pink Footed Geese..... a photo I sent you last winter of a single Barnacle Goose with the Pink Footed's, there is no ring evident on that bird although the main field in Ormskirk where they gathered was very muddy due to the Goose and Swan activity, I just wondered what the chances are of that being a wild bird or should I assume it was of feral nature? Or should I assume nothing and put it down to near impossible to tell as you say? Cheers Rob
So it's looking like the 'Holy Grail' of Barnacle Geese has turned up.... Elsewhere a total of 60 were seen moving south off Seaton Sluice, Northumberland yesterday. A party of 8 moved up the Humber at Spurn. The blog for the birds of South Cumbria lists a number of ringed Barnacle Geese from Svalbard which have started to occur during winter in the southern half of Cumbria.
