Greylag Geese
Without doubt the great grey geese are the wildfowler's most prized quarry. There are men who derive great satisfaction from hunting mallard or wigeon or teal but there must be few for whom the excitement is not doubled when straining ears pick up the music of approaching geese.
Appearance
One of the larger grey geese, the greylag is the stock from which most British
farmyard geese are descended (unlike in most of Europe where the bean goose is the
principal ancestor). Both sexes are brownish grey with paler grey forewings and white
barred tail coverts. The large heavy bill is orange in the western race and the legs are
flesh-coloured.
Status and Habits
Although a number of greylag nest in the Hebrides and a few feral flocks are now
established in other parts of Britain, the major winter population on our shores comes
from Iceland. Upwards of 100,000 birds make the annual migration over the north Atlantic
to spend the colder months of the year in east and central Scotland with smaller numbers
wintering on the Solway and around Morecambe Bay.
Greylag normally breed in their third year, the nest being built in heather, long grass
or raised areas of marsh. Between four and eight creamy white eggs are laid, incubation
taking 28 - 30 days. The male guards the nest and the young, with family groups frequently
remaining together until the following season.
In this country the principal foods are grass and cereals with very little damage being
done in economic terms. The greylag is, however, able to adapt its feeding habits rapidly
and changing patterns of agricultural land use have resulted in carrots, sugar beet and
turnips being consumed. The only time when greylag can be considered to be a serious
agricultural pest is during very wet weather when they will puddle fields and turn newly
seeded land into a sea of mud.
Once the wildfowler has become accustomed to the speed and height of these great birds, he will obtain sporting shooting at morning flight as they come off the estuaries on their way to feed in the fields. In common with other grey geese, they should never be shot in the evening on their roosts lest they desert the area completely in search of safer ground. It goes without saying that they are excellent table birds provided that they are in good condition and are not too old. Whereas mallard and teal appear not to become tough-fleshed with age, the same is certainly not true in the case of geese!
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